Enter The Pit

2007-06-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

Greener Pastures

2007-05-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

As I am sure you all know both the quality and quantity of this blog have been slacking in recent months. I must be honest and say that my bloggin heart has moved onto a new passion project that takes up most of my blogging time. While I will continue to post occasionally on this site you should check ou the new blog at www.chinchin.wordpress.com. This is a co-blog with my boy Brett which will provide you with a new and sometimes creative reason to "celebrate" each day. So check it out and read the old posts, they explain the theory behind the blog.

Useless thoughts about useless questions

2007-05-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

Where will you be in five years? Does anyone else think this is the most useless interview question ever. With AmeriCorps member interviews coming up soon I have been thinking about what interview questions I really hate and what ones are really useless. This question seems to fall into both categories. Does anybody ever have any sort of idea where they will be in five years.

I started thinking about this with the events of this weekend. Saturday I spent all day working on a controlled burn with the Cape Cod National Seashore and local fire department. (more details from this coming soon, I should be getting pictures on monday then I will post). Today I spent my day rock climbing at a gm in New Bedford. Five years ago I was 20 years old and busy drinking my face off in college. The point being that I in no way ever would have predicted the point my life is at now. Furthermore I can take guesses as to where I will be in five years but I am willing to guarantee that whatever I guess will probably not even be remotely close to where I end up. Therefore this is a completely useless question to ask in an interview and I will do my best to rid the world of it.

text messages

2007-05-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

So I got the greatest text message ever today from my friend erin, it read something like this: I have food for you come to the office. I came to the office and sure enough she had pizza for me, it was amazing.
This got me to thinking, I think one day my love for free food could eventually lead to my downfall. I mean today I left the beauty of working outside and came to the office for free food. Yesterday I drove two hours to boston for a micc party based on the fact that there was free pizza there. If my arch nemesis ever wanted to take me down they could just send me a text message saying free food come to the abandoned wherehouse on the docks and I would probably go. Alas I have found my kryptonite.

F.Y.I.

2007-04-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

My officemate Shane's chair now has exactly zero wheels on it. After somebody (whose name I cannot reveal for protection purposes) removed one wheel from Shanes' chair as a joke he thought he could be tricky and switch the broken chair with mine before I got back into the office. Unfortunately for him I was in on it from the beginning so realizing what he had done the only proper response I could think of was to switch the chairs back and remove all for wheels from his chair. Upon his return I plan on wheeling in circles around him laughing as he is defenseless and immobile.

Recent Events (to the best of my recollection)

2007-04-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

Friday April 13th:
-On friday the 13th we had a large fire culminating a weeks worth of invasive species removal. Large fires on such a cursed date might not seem like the best idea but hey, we arent professionals we are volunteers.
as you can see the fire got quite large at times. fortunately we always roll with backup.

Actually the fire department was scheduled to come put out our fire at the end of the day, it never really got out of our control. Here is a pic of the happy crew with there fire smoldering at days end.

After a hard days work a bunch of us decided to head to sundancers, a real classy joint. Unfortunately I dont have any pictures of the rest of the day cause that is when things get interesting. Some highlights:

-Drinking two dollar beers, possibly the cheapest they have ever been on the cape.
-Winning a Red sox hat for knowing that more people die every year playing golf than any other sport, not sure why or how i know this but it worked out.
-Immediately making the best deal of the century trading my hat for a T-shirt so I didnt have to smell like smoke all night.
-Mel winning the drawing for two red sox tickets, unfortunately she is not taking me, bummer.
-After multiple two dollar beers making the decision to catch a ride to bourne to keep the night going rather than taking my scheduled ride home. Keep in mind Bourne is over an hour away from my house and I had no means of getting home, I love spur of the moment decisions.

-Going to the parrot and continuing to drink heavily.
-Making friends with the cover band playing at the bar, by the way they were 17 and I dont think ever had fans before, I wish I had pictures of this.

Saturday April 14th:
-Stayed in a yurt for the first time in my life and let me tell you they are quite a luxurious way to live,

if you look closely you will notice the smoky the bear button on my jacket.

Sunday April 15th
-this day will be omitted for time purposes.

Monday April 16th

Boston Marathon day. You wouldnt think watching 24,000 people run would be all that exciting but the city really gets into it. Deciding that you will drink as long as people are runnning is a great idea for such an event. Drunk people cheering really fast people is pretty entertaining. Amazingly with all the people stumbling back and forth across the race course I didnt see anybody collide with a runner.

Fast Forward to Thursday April 19th.

-This was a big day for me as I finally reached the quarter century mark. How did I celebrate such a monumental event, well I worked all day then spent four hours in a red card class, out of control. Fortunately all day I was lavished with cards and presents from family and friends including a pair of flip flops with a built in flask, this is destined to be a reoccurring item in the blog.

Saturday April 21st

Bonfire on the beach to celebrate the birthday. The sunset, drinks, and fire were enjoyed by all, however as I was exhausted from the eight hours spent hanging out with firefighters, it remained rather uneventful for me.

Sunday April 22nd

The second beautiful cape cod day in a row. Temperatures reaching into the seventies. I celebrated the weather by cleaning my car. This may not sound all that exciting but I have literally been saying I was going to do this for Eight months and Seven days. It is rather nice to now have a clean(er) car.

That pretty much brings things up to date. I am sure there were many more exciting things that happened which have been forgotten by now but what can you do. Update the blog more frequently you say, only time can tell.

C -

2007-04-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

I would say my mental capacity at the moment earns me a C -. Drinking on a wednesday night seemed like such a wonderful idea and while it was alot of fun apparently I am getting too old for such things because my productivity today is extremely diminished. On a related topic I am currently wearing sunglasses while in my office. While this might not make sense to some people as it is very overcast today, its helping me out I promise. Oh and they are expecting 48 inches of snow today in Western Mass. What the eff is that about. Seriously its the middle of April and I wanted to go backpacking this weekend, looks like the weather has screwed me out of that one. On the plus side I have a three day weekend this week due to some phenomenon known as Patriots day. If you are not living in New England and have likely never heard of Patriots day I agree with you that if probably does not actually exist but I figure its better not to point this out as it would result in the loss of a three day weekend. One of my housemates Jae was talking to somebody from Virginia yesterday and apparently they celebrate Patriots day there too. In response to learning this Jaes comment was "why do they celebrate Patriots day in the south we won". Priceless. Anyways I think I have now cleared the random hungover thoughts out of my head and can get back to work. If this posting does not make any sense when you are reading it try having a beer or twelve then reading it, that should tie everything together.

Big News in the PIT

2007-04-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Two big happenings of last week;

1. I committed to stay on another year with the AmeriCorps program out here. On the plus side this means an additional summer on the cape, on the downside, an additional winter.

2. I bought a surfboard and should be able to get in the water soon. That speaks for itself.

Every Childs Dream

2007-04-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

When you were little did you ever build forts? I always had the coolest ideas for sweet forts but never really had the skills or materials to make them happen. This past week that all changed as I was given the opportunity to work on something that was truly unique. After work several days last week I headed down to the town of Foulmouth to work on construction of a playground. Now this just wasnt a swingset and a slide, no no. It was roughly half a football field in size, and contained among other things a pirate ship and a lighthouse. The playground was designed by a bunch of eighth graders and built entirely by community volunteers. I plan on returning soon to get some pictures of this playground which I will post for everyones enjoyment.

Moving on to more important things I had a sweet opportunity to go camping this weekend and I jumped all over it. One of our service partners at work hooked it up so that we could use this campsite for free out towards the end of sandy neck beach. Anyone who has been out there knows how amazing it is. The ranger at the beach was also nice enough to drive out water and firewood for us which was huge as it was a four mile walk along the beach to get to the site. It was an awesome opportunity and out of the 28 people it was offered to three of us accepted it. This got me thinking about something I read on workingsforsuckers the other day. I find it simply amazing how many people are into traveling and seeing the wonderful things the world has to offer in other places but simply ignore everything in their own backyard. Cape Cod is one of the most unique places in the world and it sometimes seems like people who live out here take it for granted. So here is my advice to everyone, you dont need to travel to see amazing things. Start taking advantage of where you are at instead of dreaming about where you are not. Take a hike, go for a swim, watch a sunset, or better yet a sunrise. It doesnt have to be anything big just go outside and enjoy things. You will probably find it much more rewarding than watching TV and it just might help you relax a little. For more on topics such as this I reccomend reading "The Last Child in the Woods" it is a really interesting look at the topic.

I'm back baby

2007-03-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I know its been quite a while and I will not make excuses for my blog neglect, I will simply say I am back baby. A highlight or two from the last two months

-succesfully completed my first grant, awesome.

-St Patricks day saw an MTA (massachussets transit authority) officer getting ummmm, serviced if you will, in his car which was conveniently parked in the middle of Paul Revere park. Not in a parking lot but on the walking trail.

-Franklin has been lost, if you know anything about this please let me know asap.

-Brett is in Costa Rica and apparently has become an a-hole who is too good to miss his friends, but seriously check out his blog workingsforsuckers.com its pretty cool.

-Why doesnt Brett have a nickname, I need to work on this.

-For the first time in the history of time I picked all four teams that made it to the final four. There were a few other bumps along the way in my bracket but if Georgetown beats Ohio St. I will be living large.

-I tried indoor rock climbing for the first time and enjoyed it, finally an activity where being lanky works out in my favor.

-Just a quick picture of me in Boston for those of you who miss my pretty face.

I think that is all for now. Lets see if I can step it up a little and make my next post before June.

oh the people I work with......

2007-02-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

A brief FAQ about Zombies

By Reverend M. Lee Honoré

What is a zombie?

A zombie is a dead human, yet it moves and hungers for human flesh. Terms such as the living dead and the undead, nomenclature like zombers and zedheads, and zombie (derived from a similar voodoo experience) all describe these creatures. Zombies have no memory of being alive, and are unable to develop new memories. The only thing that zombies think about is eating you. Most stories, zombies can only come from humans, but there have been noted stories about zombie animals.

How do I kill a zombie?

The only way to kill a zombie is by causing trauma to the brain. A zombie cannot bleed to death because its blood has been coagulated. A zombie does not feel pain as its nervous system doesn’t work and will not stop until its brain has been smashed. One or two stories about zombies imply that they are afraid of fire, but I wouldn’t put that to the test. The thing to remember is that one zombie is not necessarily scary. Zombies are scary because they come in hordes and are considered unstoppable because of their sheer numbers.

My loved one has been bitten by a zombie, what do I do?

There is no cure. Kill him or her as soon as possible using brain trauma. If you do not, she or he will die, turn into a zombie, and eat you. Depending on where he or she was bitten, you have a certain amount of time to say your last goodbyes. If the wound is near an extremity, you have more time. The closer the wound is to an artery, the faster your loved one will eventually want to eat you. Transmission can be through the bloodstream or any infected bodily fluid that comes into contact with your bodily fluids.

How do zombies move?

Though a zombie preserves no knowledge of its previous life, it still retains basic motor skills. It is able to walk, use its arms, and eat you. Despite what inferior Hollywood movies show you, a zombie cannot run or climb (though they can use stairs), and does not have the capacity to use tools unless it evolves (more on that later). Zombies are also immensely strong, as they will push themselves to the limit of their body's capacity, sometimes breaking tendons or bones, to feast upon your soft human flesh. Zombies will continue to drive their bodies until they completely fall apart.
Can zombies procreate?

No, and stop asking. Zombies are dead. They eat the living, who in turn become zombies assuming their brains weren't eaten or smashed in the process. That’s how zombies make more zombies. It is not self-sustaining, but neither is polluting the earth. Think about it.

How and why do zombies find people?

For some odd reason, zombies rely on their sense of smell more than their living counterparts when it comes to finding living meat. If they still have eyes, they can also see you. Their hearing, if intact, will also guide them to any sound they may hear. If no people are around, zombies generally walk around and decompose. Zombies are going to go after people because they really like the taste of your flesh.

How do zombie invasions start out?

No one is really in agreement here. Ideas include radiation from Venus probes, a virus, biological weapons, meteorites, and aliens. Once it starts, an incursion is almost impossible to stop due to misconceptions about the undead and human feelings such as love.

Why brains?

Once again, depending on what you watch or read, zombies want human brains or they want flesh. If zombies did nothing but eat brains, there would be no more zombies to join their undead ranks though, so most schools of thought believe zombies don't care about brains.

Do zombies evolve?

There has been only one visualization in which zombies evolve into something deeper than the walking dead. Given that George Romero (granddad of zombies) directed it, we can predict that if zombies stick around long enough, they will adapt to their surroundings and maybe feel feelings, which I think is super scary. We may make them fearful, but they can then get angry too. Other than that, zombies are doomed to walk the earth thinking of nothing but eating flesh until they are put out of their misery or completely decompose.

One final thought; it is important to remember when reading about zombies, watching movies of zombies, or looking at your backyard full of zombies that they are analogous to society. Thus we should be ever vigilant for zombies attacking our culture.

Media Blitz Day

2007-02-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

I know the week before the superbowl is generally reserved by the media for all things superbowl related but yesterday was what I would call a Media Blitz day for the Pit. I started off my morning listening to the usual morning radio station and the DJ was talking about global warming. I generally dont like to listen to such topics being discussed on a music station but its the cape so I dont have many choices. Anyways the people that were calling in were generally fairly uninformed and showed a bias to a certain administration and the administrations beliefs on Global Warming (notice I didnt not call them idiots, this was very difficult). Anyways I felt that somebody needed to call in and represent the other side of the conversation and as I was stuck in traffic (dont know what that was all about the cape isnt supposed to have traffic during the off-season) I decided to whip out the ole cell phone and give it a shot. Imagine my suprise when the DJ picked up the phone on the second ring and I was on the radio, no call screeners or anything. Anyways I made my points, was thanked by the DJ and hung up the phone.
Later on the same day I had a reporter from the Provincetown Banner come to my home for dinner and a interview. We discussed all sorts of things but I focused the converstation mostly on the service we do on the cape (I am all about free publicity for AmeriCorps). I will see if I can get an electronic copy of the article when it comes out to post on here.
Two Media Sources, One Day, Was this my fifteen minutes of fame?

State of the Union

2007-01-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

So I was watching the State of the Union tonight and as is par for the past seven years it failed to instill any sort of confidence in me about the future of this country. However I am not writing this post to rant about such matters. I am writing to point out the extreme ridiculousness that Dikembe Mutombo was acknowledged in the state of the union. Seriously take a minute for that to sink in because I myself still find it hard to believe. I dont even want to discuss this I just want to point it out for those of you who may have missed it. All I can really say about this is that it had better appear in Bill Simmons next column because I am sure the jokes he can come up with are way better than anything I have thought of yet. That is all

2007-01-23T16:04:00.000-08:00

Seattle finally recognized for the shittyness of their sports teams, interesting article

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/adam_hofstetter/01/23/uncommon.sense/index.html

Too sweet not to share

2007-01-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

So I was sitting in my office today, and just like any other day I had taken to annoying my office mate Shane because I hate him. Todays brand of annoyingness was overwhelming him with phone calls asking him to turn the speakers for my computer on. The barrage started with his office phone and quickly moved to his cell phone. When he stopped answering his cell phone I was struck with a moment of brilliance, I called his office phone and left him a voicemail telling him that I hated him. I waited patiently for the little red light on his phone to blink telling him he had a voicemail. I knew once this happened he would not be able to resist calling his voicemail to delete the message, the pressure was on, my timing had to be perfect. As Shane made the move towards his phone I quickly picked up my reciever and hit redial, perfection. As shane puts the reciever to his ear expecting to hear the voicemail system he instead hears me telling him to turn my speakers on. There must be a way I can get rich off of this talent, there must be. For now I will just bask in the glory of my victory and worry about getting rich later.

These guys are awesome

2007-01-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

I especially like the exercise ball surfing
http://davevscarl.spaces.live.com/?icid=T001MSN38C07001

Instant classic

2007-01-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

If you didnt watch the Boise St Oklahoma game last night then turn on ESPN classic immediately for one of the greatest finishes ever to a football game. Seriously we are talking the band is on the field status. There were 22 points scored in the last 86 seconds of regulation including a 2 point conversion to tie the game that took three tries due to penalties, an interception returned for a touchdown on the following play looking like it would give Oklahoma the victory, and a hook and lateral for fifty yards and a touchdown with seven seconds left to send the game into overtime. All overtime had in store was a one play touchdown drive by oklahoma followed by a Boise St touchdown on fourth and 2 with a play that shifted the quarterback into a reciever slot and snapped the ball directly to a reciever who then threw for the touchdown, finished off with Boise St going for two and winning the game using the statue of liberty play to perfection making Oklahomas defense look ridiculous. If this still isnt enough for you Boise's star running back proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend after the game on national TV. Dont even bother making a movie out of this hollywood, just release the game film in theatres and it will be the best sports movie ever written. On the down side it kept me up watching until one in the morning and now I am tired and unproductive at work, what a way to start the new year.

Police Blotter Power Rannkings

2006-12-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

Found this article from espn.com amusing. The most amazing part of it is that Stephen Jackson did not take home the number one spot after kicking a cripple, firing his gun into the air, and getting hit by a car, who are these people?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/061228&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2

This Just in

2006-12-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

This just in apparently my little bro, timmmay won the 2006 harkins family holiday MVP. This is a huge turn of events as he is the first relative under the age of 21 to take home such an award. I must say that even though I have been gone for most of the events this year I know that it was a hard fought and closely contested battle. One can only assume that the drunken breakdancing at MR and MRS gadgets wedding was enough to carry him through the entire competition, really nobody can disagree with such a decision.
Congratulations to timbo as I am sure this signifies the start of an amazing career, and should probably be included on college applications

BNS

2006-12-26T18:42:00.000-08:00

As I am sure you are all painfully aware of a painful pandemic of BNS (blog neglect syndrome) has been going around. I think I have finally recovered from the virus so I will do my best to provide a brief update of the last three weeks or so. Lets see....
-at one point we had a holiday party where I got nice and drunk, went to bed at a reasonable hour then was awoken due to a first aid emergency at 3:30 in the morning, once the house stopped spinning around me it was ok.
-the day after the holiday party gave an AmeriCorps presentation at a universal unitarian church, turns out the presentation was actually there sunday service, I am not even going to try and explain this.
-Spent christmas in Boston, mad props to the Richmond family for welcoming me into their home for the holidays
-I am now certified by the red cross to train people in first aid and cpr, seriously how is this a good idea?
-Missing the Gonzaga Duke game because Oklahoma State Pitt went into double overtime and ESPN2 refused to switch over, effing east coast
-Did a scavenger hunt with a puppet named franklin (you may know him from arrested development) pics may or may not come later
-Being the only AmeriCorps staff in the office today, not good or bad just worth mentioning
-Oh yeah at one point I did about five hours of karaoke while dressed up like an elf, Im not even going to try and explain this one.
-Eighteen year old scotch is delicious
-last but certainly not least making the meal from elf )spaghetti noodles with chocolate sauce, m&ms, snow caps, and pop tarts crunched on top of it, and seriously eating it for dinner, yes it is every six year olds dream and I pulled it off with help from a few friends

I am sure plenty more has happened in the last three weeks and much of it was probably blogworthy but I am tired so I am calling it quits there. Happy Holidays to all.

Welcome to a New England Winter

2006-12-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today temperatures in the 20s with snow fall and still got to go out and do some chainsawing. New England winter, go figure. Im not in Kansas anymore (or Washington for that matter).

Random Pic

2006-12-03T07:33:00.000-08:00

Attack of the little people

2006-12-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

Several comments;
1. the sheer ridiculousness of trying to take pictures that makes people look miniature pretty much sums up my house.
2. Look at Katie in the bottom picture(she is front middle) the scowl on the face mostly sums up her life, mostly
3. We built those sweet ass stairs out of fallen trees, booyah

Turkey Day

2006-11-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

Wednesday
7:15-Wake up before the alarm clock goes off. This is a bad sign as I could have slept in and gone in to work a little later, oh well

9:00 after hanging around the house and discovering the youtube clip of nate robinson swatting yao, I leisurely make it into work. As I am the only americorps person staff or member in the office I dont expect to get much done.

11:00 I am now amazed at the amount of work I have gotten done. Its amazing my level of productivity when nothing is around to distract. I return phone calls and reply to emails. I make appointments and schedule sight visits. Basically I got a weeks worth of work done in two hours because there were no distractions. Seems like I should be able to take advantage of this knowledge.

11:45 About to leave work I refresh the email one more time and recieve an email that requires drastic rescheduling on my part before I can leave the office.

11:52 Phone rings, why do people always wait until Im about to leave before they call, I swear its a conspiracy.

11:59 emails are finished and Im off the phone (this required serious multi tasking but again its amazing what Im capable of while by myself). I start shutting down my computer so I can go home. Windows chooses this as a good time to install updates. I wait for this to happen just knowing the phone will ring while I wait. Its eerie how much this moment resembles a scene from office space.

12:07 I have left the office and am stopping at the bank before heading to Boston. My cell phone rings, shit I knew this was too good to be true.

12:15 hang up the cell phone, group projejct details all ironed out

*** the next several hours involved me traveling by car and train to get into boston. I will spare the details as nothing all that exciting happened. I did eat some delicious bourbon chicken though.

4:30 The needle shoots through my eyebrow like a hot knife through butter. I expected it too hurt much more, sweet break for me.

7:00 after some more train riding sit down for a delicious dinner with mels and her parents, the timing was strategically planned so that we could al make it home in time for the Gonzaga North Carolina game.

9:00 (approx) Gonzaga UNC game starts, keep in mind I am with two UNC grads and the daughter of two UNC grads, there is no way this can go well.

9:15 (approx) This is not good at all, Gonzaga has yet to score and they are down 12-0. Those crazy UNC fans sure are enjoying this.

10:?? Halftime and Gonzaga is going in with the lead. I am exhausted and decide to quite with the game while I am ahead. I got an early race to run Turkey Day morning.

Thursday

7:03 Alarm clock goes off, first thought, screw the race I want to go back to sleep.
7:05 I payed $23 to run this race and its non refundable, I better get out of bed

7:30 Leave for race

7:45 Arrive at race location and sign in. Apparently I registered like 23 people to late and dont get a T-shirt, tough break.

8:00 its freaking cold, I wish I got that free T-shirt

8:25 find open building to stretch in where it is nice and warm, sweet

8:52 join 2000 other people lined up in the street for the start of the race, by the way it has decided to start raining.

9:00 Why isnt the race starting, I dont feel like standing around in the rain

9:05 still waiting WTF

9:07 Race starts here we go.

9:35 cross the finish line, not a great time for 4 miles, but not bad.

9:40 into the bar for some free Guinness with my fellow racers

10:03 Find out that Gonzaga won the previous night against UNC, the gloating will begin soon

10:30 With a pace almost as fast as my running I have finished my sixth Guinness and am now drunk, boo-yah

Rest of the day: Booz, Turkey, Booz, Booz, Sleep.

That is all

The PIT goes to New York

2006-11-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

Thats right folks last weekend I made the four hour trip to Manhattan. As was predicted odd things happen when I go to an eleven mile long island with 8 million people on it. The craziness ensued as soon as I got off the subway. As I was walking through the station there was somebody playing the violin as appeared to be par for the course for subway stations. What set this apart as weird was as I was walking by the man stopped playing his violin came directly to me and I can only assume was asking me to play as he tries handing his violin to me (he didnt appear to speak english). It as this point when I realized this trip to New York was going to be interesting. The next few hours were fairly uneventful until while walking to a bar I was approached by a crazy guy asking me for a quarter. I respectfully tell him that I do not have a quarter and he replies "I also take hundreds". Seriously do I look like the type of guy who just walks aroud with hundreds of dollars, I think not. Fortunately my response of "so do I" was enough for him to depart laughing. Good Times. Fast Forward to later that evening when nice and drunk we get into a cab to go home as we dont want to take the time to ride the subway. Yelling and honking aside, riding in a new york taxi not the best idea when you are intoxicated. Additionally I did not get picked up by the cash cab which I found to be rather disappointing. The next day I woke up and spent a few hours seeing as much of the city as I had time for. I saw union square and central park which were both cool but the real fun started when we sat down outside at a restaraunt for lunch. I am sitting there in the midst of a conversation when what happens but a bird craps in my water glass, I shit you not (pun intended). Seriously right into the water glass, who else does this stuff happen to. On the plus side the bird missed my beer so I cant be too upset about it and actually it was kind of funny. That evening concluded with several hours with an open bar. Highlight of this being when at last call for the open bar I order a budweiser (as I am drunk enough to not know any better at this point) and the bartender brings me four of them. Solid move on his part, kept me nice and drunk for the next several hours. Other than that I dont recall too many crazy things happen, maybe this is a result of those last four beers. Fast Forward to sunday morning when I am leaving and decide to cut about an hour of my trip by walking six blocks through harlem from the subway to the train station. I would say I stuck out like a sore thumb walking through harlem but that wouldnt quite do it justice. It was an interesting experience as for a short time I really felt like a minority. Anywho that is about the extent of my weekend.
PIT out

Halloween

2006-11-03T05:55:00.000-08:00

Better late than never here are a few sweet pics from the halloween extravaganza

Luigi ready for some vodka luge at the pond. I know what you are thinking and the answer is yes, the mustache is real

Theres Luigi and his boy Mario with Erin sandwiched in between

A few good folks from wellfleet dressed up as the characters from clue (from left to right, Katie Peaches Amy Kyle Chelsea)

The classy ladies of Bourne (Kelly Laura Erin Liz Mel Kat Becca)

Cape Cod Marathon

2006-10-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

The Dunkin Donuts cape cod marathon was on sunday and as I am a Pit of my word I competed whole heartedly with my team of Shane-O, Mel, Josh, and Tess. Congrats to all of my teammates on an excellent race as we took 38th out of roughly 170 relay teams. However the tip of the cap this week goes to "Bourne to run". This team composed purely of Americorps members from the Bourne house simply destroyed my team beating us by ten minutes or so and taking eighteenth overall in the relay. So Tony, Ben, Eric, Chris, and Liz a big tip of the cap to all of you for a job well done.

Dead to me

2006-10-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

To steal a page from my boy meatballs blog I am going to throw something into the dead to me column. Imbedded deer tick you are dead to me. Eff you trying to stick yourself in my leg and live off of my human goodness juices. You are dead to me and if you gave me lyme disease then your entire family will be dead to me also.

Open Letter to the Crazy Olde Man

2006-10-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Crazy Olde Man
I realize you are super olde and I am not which is supposed to mean you are much wiser than me, but I have some important advice for you nonetheless. Relax, calm down, chill out, take it easy, whatever you want to call it just stop being so high strung and so upset at the world. A car with three "kids" (and I use this in the cape cod sense of the term meaning anyone under fifty) driving down the road your house is on is not the end of the world. It is not worth you stopping us with the help of your little poodle so that you can yell at us. Had you calmed down enough to listen to what I was saying to you then you would have realized that we were providing a volunteer service organized through the town you live in that will directly better your living environment. Your grandkids will be able to once again run free without the fear of being attacked by a rabid raccoon, and judging by how high strung you were this is a constant fear of yours. Unfortunately you do not know how to calm down and listen and instead you felt the need to yell louder, start cursing, and call me an asshole. All the while I kept my composure and thanked you for your opinion and bid you good day, why did this seem to infuriate you even more? I was just being polite. The moral of the story crazy olde man is that if you take the time to listen to others you would have a much less stressfull life, wouldnt run the risk of getting yourself into trouble because lets face it that little dog cannot protect you, and you would no longer have to live in fear of being attacked by a rabid animal. On the other hand such a change in personality would make my day much less interesting so maybe you should disregard everything I have just said.
Sincerely Yours
The Pit

2 things of note

2006-10-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

1. Rabies bates smell like fish oil and now so does my car, tough break.
2. Departed is an ok movie, not great, however it was filmed in Boston which was fun to see some of the places I have been.
That is all

weekend highlights

2006-10-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

1. Friday night, rainy, dark, driving in Boston for the first time, nuff said
2. "Sometimes you just get drunk and stroke your buddys mustache" -Spencer Palmer
3. Drawing on a huge piece of butcher paper while in the bar friday night, seriously more bars should have this, or maybe white boards. You would be suprised how much fun it can be to draw or play hang man while drinking.
4. Finding a bicycle in the middle of the street while walking home from the bar and riding it the rest of the way. There were a few mechanical issues with the bike but that could not stop me. Where there is a will there is a way.
5. Finding a bike in the middle of the street, seriously how did this happen.
6. Reuniting with Marshalls, my long lost friend saturday morning.
7. Whole foods may be my new favorite grocery store.
8. sleeping fo like 12 hours saturday night, it had been way way way too long since I had done such a thing
9. Riding the T in Boston, so much better than driving. Seriously Seattle take not, public transportation kicks serious ass.
10. Went to my first crew race, actually it was more like a series of crew races. It was a rather large event and pretty fun.
11. Deciding that New England should now just be called England, and the country England should be called Olde England. Im pretty sure we earned that one in a little thing I like to call WWII

1.5

2006-10-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

The margin of victory in tonights hot pocket eating contest. Hats off to peaches for giving it his best effort, however his nine hot pockets was simply no match for me. Next time please someone provide a real challenge. Several pictures were taken but Im not sure if they are worth posting as I have not seen them yet. There was video of this extravaganza and it is currently being edited and hopefully will be posted on youtube when finished.

weekend recap

2006-10-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

1. Friday night all of americorps went to governor bradfords in Ptown. There is just something great about rolling 20 some odd people deep into a bar that has karaoke DJd by a drag queen. There was some great karaoke done and a great birthday rendition of POTUSA peaches for Mike "peaches" Platt. Good times.
2. Waking up saturday morning after maybe three hours sleep and heading off to do some volunteering at energy fair. Tired does not describe how I felt.
3. Playing the meow game and doing the repeater to cars at energy fair. This combined with the syrup chugging of several weeks ago has me convinced I am destined to live out the entire super troopers movie. I have no problem with this.
4. Shuck and Run 5k race this morning. I got tenth out of almost 200 people. I was hoping to do it in under 20 minutes and finished in 20:22. Pretty close for a hilly course and I really cant complain about 10th
5. Oysterfest, by far the biggest event of the year in wellfleet, good times. Highlights included but certainly not limited to getting my picture taken with the sausage king, and watching an actual shuck off. Plus I just love that word. Oh yeah and some lady coming up to me, getting closer than I generally prefer for a conversation and just saying bullshit. Me standing there really confused forgetting what shirt I was wearing (turns out the word bullshit was written on my shirt with a picture of George W and the BUSH from bullshit all in caps). Uncomfortable situations are funny.
6. Pretty stoked to go do some work restoring a salt marsh tommorrow, should be good times.
7. PIT out.

Hot Pockets

2006-10-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

While at the stop and shop yesterday I ran across an amazing find. Chicken Fajita hot pockets are being discontinued and were half off. I did the obvious thing and purchased the entire supply the stop and shop had. This seemed like a great idea at the time, but now I am not so sure. There are multiple ways this can screw me over. Option A is that this flavor hot pockets are being discontinued because they are disgusting. This would obviously suck. Option B is that these will be the best hot pockets ever and I will spend the rest of my life upset that I can never again get them. Either way would suck. I will keep you all posted on how they are. Additional things to look forward in upcoming blogs, "you know your life sucks when you have to ask the transvestite karaoke DJ where your husband is" and pictures from the medieval faire. Be excited because they are worth the wait.

Random events today

2006-10-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

Today I got to do several things that I dont do on a very regular basis
1. Eating raw oysters at 8 in the morning, have to say I should do this one more often, they were delicious, would have been better with a little booz though
2. Fight an amazing battle with some stairs. I returned home from the oyster work to find our stairs caving in creating a not so ideal situation. Lets just say the score is now stairs 0 Dave 1. Good times
3. Im getting a cold, I wish I wasnt, buts its not everyday this happens so I figure I should try to find some good in it. It looks like the cold is going to keep me from singing karaoke with a transvestite tonight, not sure if this is good or bad.

hmmmmm

2006-10-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this then you are probably as bored at work as I am right now and I feel your pain. I really dont have anything to say Im just bored. I am going to start counting the number of meetings I have until someone comments on the disgusting mustache. The count may go on for a while because its not a very comfortable topic for someone to bring up when they have just met you and are hoping to do some work with you. I cant wait for mini golf tonight. Back to the Grind now

Something to look forward too

2006-10-04T20:29:00.001-07:00

I plan on going miniature golfing tommorrow after work. This is exciting for multiple reasons:
1. The mini golf place is called "pirates cove", we all know how I feel about pirates
2. Amazingly I have the perfect sweater for such an occasion and the weather should be just right to break it out
3. The mustache is looking better than ever
4. I should get some amazing pictures out of this
5. That is all

What a day

2006-10-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

I need to start off by saying that this weekend was one of the greatest weekends in history. I do not feel that I can do it justice with my words so I will forgo any sort of explanation and you will just have to take my word for it. Moving on.

The this weekend I am speaking of ended promptly at ten oclock (EST) last night when I returned home, turned on the seahawks game, and saw they were getting destroyed by the bears, boo to that. However I was still riding my high spirits from the weekend when I woke up this morning. As time passed on , wait no Im getting ahead of myself, first an explanation;
I was scheduled to attend a meeting this morning to set up some work on distributing oral rabies vaccinations throughout the lower cape. However this meeting was set up for me by Mary (and I completely appreciate everything she does for me, dont get the wrong idea from this Mary is awesome). Due to minor communication errors I was not going to know the location of this meeting until this morning, keep in mind the meeting is at 9:30

So I wake up at seven oclock ready to start my day and I check my email, no email yet with the location but I have plenty of time. I decide I can sleep a little longer so I hit snooze on the alarm and go back to sleep. Nine minutes later the alarm goes off again, I refresh my internet browser and still no email. This still causes me no worries as I really am not expecting it until about eight oclock, cutting things close but Mary has to sleep too. I continue with the snooze refresh game for about an hour and at eight oclock finally get myself out of bed even though the email has yet to arrive. I decide to have breakfast while I wait so I make myself a bowl of oatmeal, delicious. The game continue, 8:10 no dice. 8:20 nothing. 8:30 still no email and Im starting to get worried so I take my phone outside to get a signal and call Mary. When I get a signal I recieve a voicemail from Mary saying the email was sent out around eight. I return inside to check again around 8:33 and finally the three emails appear. I quickly scan through them ignoring all information and only looking for the location of the event. I find the location google map it, sprint out the door and am in my car around 8:47. At this point I look at the google map and realize it takes just over 50 minutes to get to my destination. I make it in about 42 minutes and 55 seconds and literally run through the town hall in order to make it to the meeting on time. This is great, I have come through and saved myself the embarassment of showing up really late with no better excuse than miscommunication. Lets face it nobody wants to be that guy. As the meeting gets going general mayhem ensues as people struggle to understand the concept that I can only offer six people on tuesday wednesday and thursday but if they are willing to schedule a monday or friday I can offer 14 people. I dont feel like its a difficult concept but apparently I didnt explain it all that well. Anyways I get through the meeting and it this point I realize I have completely exhausted myself and its only 12 oclock. The morning was a rough start but the afternoon is not looking any better. I struggle through an extremely cheezy video on rabies baiting and by 1:30 I am off to the office. I get to the office extremely tired but ready to get some things done like make phone calls about this fridays project. I open my bag up and realize in my rush out the door this morning I left all pertinent information about said project at the house. My next two hours will be slightly productive but more or less useless. At 3:30 I go to see the first run through of the Americorps reduce reuse recycle puppet show. This was absolutely the high point of the day as it was hillarious. however afterwards I was attacked by numerous puppets, not really the ideal happening when you are extremely tired.

I am now at the point of falling asleep so Im cutting off this post. The last part of the day wasnt all that exciting either, until I checked my email and read the best email I have gotten in a long time so hooray for that. Bed NOW

RTOW

2006-09-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Random Thought Of the Week

Any time someone approaches me with the greeting "Whats Up Dave" It means one thing and one thing only.
-it will be followed immediately by an awkward and uncomfortable pause on both sides
-the awkward pause will be followed by either someone asking me to do something for them, or more likely an awkward and uncomfortable topic being brought up

Dont get me wrong here, I am ok with this. At least it gives me a second or two to prepare for the ensuing awkwardness. Additionally a greeting of "Whats Up" or "Dave" by themselves are completely harmless. It appears to only be when the two are combined that trouble is afoot.

P.S. I will not be providing any examples of these conversations because they are obviously awkward and uncomfortable.

P.P.S. Anyone who reads this and decides it will be funny to start constantly greeting me in this manner just remember you are a terrible person and probably likely to one day start killing kittens.

That is all
Pit

I am all that is man

2006-09-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you who arent aware Wednesday night is house dinner night for Americorps Cape Cod. This past wednesday we had breakfast for dinner. It was delicious but at the end we had a bunch of syrup leftover. Normally this would not be a problem as it would just be saved until a later date, unfortunately we are not a normal house. After dinner it was decided that a syrup chugging contest should ensue between myself and Jae-bird. With my respect and authority as house supervisor on the line I had to bring my A game. Needless to say I came through with a clutch performance and delivered a victory. Mad Props to Jae-bird for keeping it close. Here are some pictures of the race (yes the mustache is real, dont be jealous)

Pictures

2006-09-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ive decided that my blog would be well served by the addition of pictures, lets see if I can figure this out

That was sunday nights dinner

Thats Melanie, I was going to say Lobster makes her do funny things but its not fair to blame the lobster

Seafood Extravaganza

2006-09-24T10:36:00.001-07:00

Today being the last day the wellfleet fish market is open all of their seafood was super cheap. You cannot beat live lobster for $5/lb. This means todays top story is that I am eating a feast fit for a king tonight, YES!!!

Seafood Extravaganza

2006-09-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

greatest game ever (or at least in the last year)

2006-09-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

In the most amazing college football game Ive watched this year (keep in mind I live in a house where nobody else seems to really be a college football fan) Notre Dame recovered from five quarters of crappy play (including the michigan game) to mount an amazing comeback and defeat Michigan State. The suspense was made even better by the facts that I was in an Irish sports bar watching the game and two americorps members had a bet of cookies riding on the game. Also significant was the fact that UW beat UCLA surpassing their win total for all of last year, go Huskies. As for the rest of my day Im too freaking tired to write about it now so Ill fill it in later.

And the final score is....

2006-09-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

I feel like today was full of ups and downs so lets go ahead and calculate a simple total;
-woke up entirely to early this morning, -1
-upon waking up finding chelsea emerging from the shower saying "I was so tired a took a shower with my slippers on" yes the slippers were soaked, +1
-riding to service with five people crammed in westacles' car but awesome music as always, 0 (I'll consider it a wash)
-Recieving a bag of peanut butter m&ms when arriving at service, +1
-realizing we really could have arrived about two hours later meaning I could have had two hours more sleep, -1
-the arrival of so many little kids when I am still so sleepy, -1
-seeing Matt laugh and play with the little kids then the second they are gone comment on how much he hates them, +1
-Soaking my foot while filling up a water bucket, -1
-the general coolness of the little kids once the morning haze finally wore off, +1
-the lobster hat, +1
-the amazing looks and comments and laughter I recieved going to the store with the lobster hat and mels shoes on, definitely +1
-more kids in the afternoon and all the activities that ensued, +1
-getting home in time to get the oil changed in my car, +1
-the guy at napa giving me the wrong light bulb, -1
-talking with the bitchy lady on the phone trying to adjust reservations for merediths birthday dinner, -1
-merediths birthday dinner, +1
-Hanging out in Ptown for a while, +1
-opening my mail and finding out I have just recieved food stamps retroactively from the last two months, +1
-finding out that there are actually some people reading this thing, +1
-Mario kart with matt and chelsea, +1
and the final score is....7
turns out after a slow start this morning things pretty much picked up and I probably had a better than average day, sweet.
Time for Bed, +infinity

P.S. it is important to note that over the last several weeks I have done some quality bonding with becca. Although neither of us seem to remember it we are sure that it happened.

aquitards

2006-09-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sweet day today. Had training for wetfest which is basically where we go and spend a day teaching severall hundred little kids all about ground water and water quality and such things. I got to talk about aquitards which is pretty much my favorite word in the world so that was sweet. We have our first actual wetfest tommorrow, Im sure it will be crazy, and we will continue to do them about once a month over the next year.
Of additional note we took a group picture yesterday which will soon be posted on the Americorps Cape Cod Web site. Not knowing this was going to be the internet picture Im am totally rocking a sweet disgustache and comb over. Good stuff Ill post a link as soon as the pic is up. I think that is all for now.

awesome day

2006-09-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today started off just as any normal day would, maybe even a little harder to get out of bed than usual, little did I know what I was in for.

-Things started with some coastal zone management lectures in the morning, I was shocked to see that ashley decided to once again accompany my house to training. This was excellent as she is always good for a laugh or two in the morning (and any other time of the day)

-After the CZM lectures things really picked up, we headed down to sandy neck to do some work removing piping plover fencing as mating season is over for these birds and if left out the fencing would be readily washed away by the first storm of the season. In order to get to the fencing I had to ride along the beach in a Rhino (its like an off road dune buggie mobile). It was awesome. The work of removing the fencing consisted largely of walking down the almost desertetd beach with friends on a beautiful cape cod day. Granted there was some labor that was done along the way but again, awesome. After we removed all the fencing the ranger who was driving the rhino took us back through the sand dunes for a little marsh action, the recurring theme of this is it was awesome. While back in the dunes he pointed out several extremeley hidden campsites that are about a 3.5 mile walk from the road and told us he would hook us up with a permit if we ever wanted to go. We are now scheduled to go this saturday, AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Went for a run when I got home from work through some cool trails by ryder beach and ended up running way further than I had anticipated. It was scenic and the fact that I made it the whole way was awesome.

-almost got hit head on while driving by a guy running from the cops but managed to narrowly avoid it probably saving multiple lives, awesome.

-awesome

weekend

2006-09-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

It was yet another amazing weekend on the cape, here are some highlights

-Friday night went to a seafood resteraunt that was byob with some of the crew. We made the obvious choice and brought forties. One of the crew was asked by a server at the resteraunt if he needed help opening his bottle of wine not knowing it was really a forty in a bag. Good times

-After dinner heading to a bar and bonding with erin over darts. Keep in mind there were no darts to be played at the bar. However the bonding was significant enough that she felt the need to tell others about it the next day, awesome

-Saturday going for a bike ride up through provincetown, people watching in that town while riding through is awesome, I have never seen so much diversity if you will. They have some sweet ass beaches there though

-Saturday night consisted of bowling then a trip to the BBC in hyannis. I bowled two of the most amazing games of my life putting up a 57 and a 69. However I did have several of the most amazing throws ever including but not limited to mel "helping" me bowl, we both tossed at the same time down the same lane, the balls crossed in the middle and picked up the spare, awesome. I also picked up a spare by rolling three balls at once

-At the BBC I had a nice conservation with our dd and then finished the gin and tonic slammed it on the table and said "where in the world did I get this drink". I didnt find out until later that I was supposed to be holding it for mel, fortunately she didnt mind.

-Sunday hung out at sandy neck, quite the beautiful beach

Oh yeah and apparently Im running on a relay team in the cape cod marathon, should be good times.

Native species removal

2006-09-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today at work we got a lesson in invasive species removal. Basically I spent my day sawing, chopping, pulling, and otherwise straining to remove these weeds. I returned home scraped, covered in dirt, and otherwise exhausted, however I totally loved it. Its cool to think that there are some trees out there that will now live longer and provide habitat for many furry little creatures because of me. Its good to make a difference and now I cant wait for the weekend that promises delicious seafood, some bowling, some beer, maybe some sweaters, and just generally a good time.
Pit Out

Shellfish propogation

2006-09-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today I spent an interesting day learning about and then participating in shellfish propogation. For those of you who are not familiar with the term this is basically farming clams, oysters and scallops. The environment on and surrounding cape cod has been decimated to the point that the once abundant shellfish populations that were the livelihoods of so many people have become close to extinct aroud the cape. The solution to this problem is supposedly to take shellfish (generally the weaker ones because the stronger ones are more valuable to sell) breed them in captivity, place the young in "farms" in the wild. When these young mature they are then spread out through the waters around the cape where they will be harvested, and hopefully start to reproduce (this is the same idea as farming salmon for all you northwesterners out there). The concept behind this projet is greatly debated and I think if pushed I am probably more against it than I am for it. Shellfish propagation can drastically shrink a species gene pool reducing its ability to defend itself from viruses and diseases. There are a multitude of other problems that can also arise. I would prefer to work on projects that focus more on habitat restoration for shellfish numbers to naturally return to there once abundant numbers. However this would not be nearly as quick or easy of a fix. Regardless of how I feel about the project it was a unique and great experience that I think was very beneficial for me to go through. Plus I got to play around in the water all day which I enjoy. Hopefully I can keep this positive while repeating this project through the rest of the year.

P.S. the moms is starting treatment again tommorrow for her lymphoma so happy thoughts and prayers for her would be greatly appreciated.

the last week

2006-09-13T17:44:00.002-07:00

The last week in cape cod has been filled with many memorable events, I will include only select highlights now
-On wednesday the sixth my day went something like this, woke up and went for an awesome run through the woods. Returned from my fun to go surfing in the atlantic ocean, waves werent great and it was cold but a bad morning surfing is better than a good morning almost anything else. After surfing I went to work. This entailed a morning of canoeing through a protected salt marsh, awesome. At this point I decided I loved my life and the rest of the day doesnt really matter.
-The next several days were spent on coast guard beach (were I was on the sixth) with other general retreat activities like swimming with sea lions and bon fires on the most beautifully empty beach I had ever seen, no biggy.
-Saturday was spent with the good people from the bourne house at a football, karaoke and dance party. Needless to say this was filled with a multitude of funny situations and occurrences but the funniest can only be summed up as "parapalegics need cake", if you want to know just ask.
-Tuesday was a sweet day of learning, hiking, and playing in an estuary, good times.
-Today I implemented a plan to build the perfect fire pit, kind of in the midst of a battle with some archaeologists from the cape cod national seashore about that one at the moment but Im certain I will win since I have right on my side. More details on this later.

the last week

2006-09-13T17:44:00.001-07:00

the last week

2006-09-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

the weekend

2006-09-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

Highlights from Saturday and Sunday nights

-Saturday night bar sweaters were in full effect and they were awesome, I think Matt and I may have started a new trend

-Sunday night went to the locals watering whole in wellfleet which was an interesting experience. I met some drunk ass old guy named steve who wanted to be my best friend. This was alright but I was 100% sober and he was at least 87%drunk which made the conversations tough. Regardless I powered through it and had a good evening.

-What is with people on cape cod (and maybe the new england area in general I dont know) constantly wanting to network you with people. No I do not want to meet your friend who works for the cape cod times, no I will never call your uncle who has the whale watching boat. I think the people mean well but I just feel like it makes things awkward

-Oh yeah the drunk guy on sunday night was telling me about a sunken ship in P-town from the 1700s that had lots of de bloons (sp?) and JFK jr memorabilia on it. Im no genius but Im pretty sure the 1700s were well before JFK jrs time.

There has been much other entertainment that hasnt invloved the bars like signing up for a library card and shopping in welfleet center, however not much of it is blogworthy, I just need to put in this disclaimer so people dont get the wrong idea about americorps cape cod. On a plus side I have started to realize what kind of power the americorps cape cod name has, dropping it can pretty much get you anything you need like foodstamps or a library card, sweet.

LEEEEEEROY JENKINS!!!!!!!

That is all

WOW!!!!

2006-09-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

SO I have officially had my members for about thirty hours now and here are some of the highlights from the past day or so:
-The house has discovered we have a nintendo 64 and Mario Kart and everyone loves it, awesome

-Due to the no alcohol allowed in the house the members are plannning "daves pit" This will be an area off property but close to the house, probably a hole, where all alcohol will be stored, I dont see how this could come back to bite me in the ass

-The location of "Daves Pit" will be revealed in a treasure map that will be kept in a pirate ship, all the directions will be written in verse

-Introduced twelve new people to the amazingness that is Leeroy Jenkins, AMAZING!!!!

-Amy?

-The pirate ship

-Westacles

-Matt, the 6'6 goofy guy making a sign during the meeting which included all my supervisors and the other house that said "Dave Wanna Drink ?". Fortunately I think nobody else saw

-Giving my members the choice between going to an art show put on by a service partner and to the beachcomber (a local watering hole) and every single person chose the bar.

-Pre-funking on the beach with 40s of old milwaukee before going to the beachcomber

-There is a member whose last name is Griswold, not only have I called her nothing but griswold but I continually make comments about her father Clark W.

I think that is about all I got for now but judging by the past day this year will be nothing short of amazing, but what else would be expected when I am given supervision of a household

Marriage

2006-08-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Marc and the Inspector on tying the knot last saturday. Additional Congrats to Deal, Tim, and everyone else who made it one of the best wedding receptions of all time. Tim did some break dancing on a piece of cardboard and deal sang a duet with emily, priceless. All in all I would say that everyone brought out their A game to celebrate marc and inspector. There are more details on meatballs blog, including a video of tim and his breakdancing, I reccomend checking it out.

Vegas Baby!!!!!!

2006-08-25T02:46:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering I am currently blogging from the floor at the Las Vegas Airport. For the record it is currently 2:42 am pacific standard time and I was supposed to be in Seattle 12 minutes ago. The situation is exasperated by the fact that my new flight does not leave Vegas until 9:00. In most cases I would use such a situation to go out and enjoy the vegas but seeing as how been in airports or on a plane for the last fifteen hours Im not really feeling the energy level to properly do the vegas. In case you were keeping score this is two trips in a row that I have been completely effed by the airline. US airways/America West is now on my list of airlines to never fly again right next to United. Efff flying I feel like there should be a faster and or more reliable way for me to get to and fro

oops

2006-08-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Recipe for a horror movie;
1. a house that is 150+ years old
2. house is large enough for 14 people yet one young newcomer to town lives in it all alone
3. proper wind channels for doors to blow open and closed
4. House is isolated in the woods to the extent I dont know where my nearest neighbor is
5. A tool shed full of sharp "weapons" located "just across the yard"
6. A plethora of nooks and crannies for creepy things to hide

Take note hollywood, my life it this point would make a great horror movie

Im back

2006-08-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

So its been a couple weeks since I have posted anything on here and for that I apologize. This was in part due to having no internet access for a while and in part due to being extremely busy. Some of the highlights of the last few weeks are as follows;
Marcs Bachelor Party
-Drew called the park ranger a fag, not the best idea when you are all drunk and trying to not get kicked out of the park
-I threw a beer all over drew, I dont remember this but Im told it was a good toss
-Everyone waking up saturday morning with mustard all over there clothing and nobody knowing why for sure
-waking up with marcs wallet and cell phone, why wouldnt I have them
-Marc trying to race ahmad and subsequently tumbling to the ground and puking upon return
-Sadly nobody pulled a kevin

After the bachelor party, and I mean immediately after I started my journey to the east coast
-I was not feeling well at all the first day
-we stopped at yellowstone and I managed to "pet" a bison. Unfortunately the park ranger did not think it was a good idea for me to approach a two thousand pound animal and let me know this
-Passed through Sturgis on the way to mount rushmore, thats alot of bikers
-the badlands are not so bad, in fact they are rather cool
-nicoles relatives in Michigan are nice
-Niagra falls is way cooler from the canadian side, but still just a waterfall
-Boston accents are really fun, I hope I get one

After much driving I finally arrived in Cape Cod where
-The house I will be living in was built in 1850
-I sleep in a twin bed but I got the sweetest sheets
-It appears I will be working fifty to sixty hours a week for a whopping $280 a week before taxes and insurance and all that good stuff, thats like a dollar an hour
-Today I woke up at six in the morning, helped shane clean paint move things all day, then came home around six to split wood for an hour so we can have a sweet bonfire when my corpsmembers show up
-for some reason I love doing this

I am now tired, hungry and starting to get cranky so Im signing off, Ill try and get pics of the roadtrip up in the near future

Breastacles

2006-07-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

Are you a man? Do you have boobs? Then you sir are the proud owner of a set of breastacles!!!! Possibly the funniest word ever

Ted

2006-07-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

Dear United Airlines
What the hell were you thinking? At what point during the day does it seem like not only a plausible idea but a good idea to cancel several early morning flights including the one I was supposed to be on. At the point this idea seems good could you at least have the courtesy to call me with the contact information I provided when booking my ticket and let me know so I dont show up at the airport at four oclock in the morning for my non existent flight. Furthermore if you arent going to let people know and help them reschedule in advance could you please schedule more than four people to work your freaking ticket counter so I dont have to stand there and wait for hours just to find a flight. Furthermore after all things are settled and I have found a new flight could you please just give me a normal ticket, not a ticket for my old flight with the infor basically crossed out and new info written on with a ballpoint pen. If this doesnt scream out additional screening to security I dont know what does. That was fun. Furthermore my ear started bleeding when I was waiting in the airport. I havent figured out why yet but Im pretty damn sure that this is your fault to. I hate you "ted" and I hope we never meet again. You such at being an airline because you cannot complete the most basic tasks such as actually having flights. I hope you go bankrupt, get aids, and die.
-The Pit

Oregon

2006-07-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Oregon,

I effing hate you. There was a time when I thought you were a pretty respectable place. Portland always seemed like a decent city and your state university mascot is the beaver, whats not to like about that. However things have changed. First and foremost 55 mph (not to mention 50 through portland) is not an acceptable speed limit for I-5. The exact same road that California and Washington have no problem posting a 70mph speed limit on when between major cities you seem to think has to be posted at 55, or occasionally 65 when you are feeling generous. I see no purpose for this other than trying to generate revenue for you statewide socialist healthcare that you would love to implement. Why dont you just become Canada (Im not really against public healthcare, Im just upset with Oregon).
Secondly, what is the effing deal with your gas stations. Let me brake it down nice and simple, if you dont know how to pump your own gas you should not be operating a motor vehicle PERIOD, no excuses. Almost every other state in the country allows self service gasoline and their doesnt seem to be a major problem with people accidentally drinking gasoline or blowing gas stations up. This nifty little system you have in place provides one problem, when its three in the morning and I need gas to continue on my road trip its impossible to find a station with an effing attendant on duty. The best thing about self service is a freaking credit card machine can sell you petrol at any time of the time. So get on board with the rest of the country on this one california and do away with the full service gasoline station legal requirement. Its as bad as bathroom attendants at not so fancy bars in San Diego.
If my lifes journeys never again bring me to Oregon I will be more than OK with that
Sincerely No Longer Yours
The Pit

3 ozs to 1 gallon

2006-07-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

The approximate ratio of energy drink to gasoline required for completing my nearly straight through drive from San Diego to Brier. I stopped half way through Oregon and took about a two hour nap then was back on my way. I seem to remember last time I did this I said never again, however when I get it set in my mind that Im getting somewhere, I seemingly cannot be stopped.

D-Rod

2006-07-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

What did you do last night? Yeah thats great it doesnt really matter because I hung out with Dennis Rodman. And when I say hung out I mean stinkypants and I did our best to take pictures positioned so that good ole Dennis Rodman would be in the background. Yes Tequila was prominently involved, no D-Rod did not appear to be on the tequila train. No I am not telling a lie photographic evidence may be supplied soon to back up this outlandish claim.

Sacrifices to save the world

2006-07-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

I was reading through a packet of papers sent to me by americorps and came across some interesting information. Being the supervisor provides me numerous benefits in the americorps system, for example I will be the only person in the house with my own room. Sweet deal right? I thought so but upon further review it turns out this room is somewhat small, it was described as a walk in cupboard converted into a bedroom. Who the hell do they think I am, Harry freaking Potter. Living in a cupboard under the stairs. As if leaving the paradise I live in now wasnt a big enough sacrifice I now have to live in a freaking box. COME ON

The dawning of an era

2006-07-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

Just as meatballs volkswagen jetta era is coming to an end, the pits jetta era is beginning. Thats right folks I have aquired a 97 jetta to transport me off to cape cod to start my new life, ciabooyah

Frustration level high

2006-07-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else find adobe acrobat and PDF files to be the most worthless thing computers have to offer? I understand the basic idea behind it, scanning documents into small files is a wonderful idea. But why can't you make a program that performs this function and performs properly on a consistent basis? How do you get away with selling software that seems to work properly maybe 5% of the time and the other 95% just sucks balls. I despise you adobe and plead to any and all nerds out there with computer hacking skills to devise a better system for pdf files and cause the downfall of acrobat forever

Cheers to cheers

2006-07-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

In out usual overachieving ways Brett Baulake and I not only completed our goal of sixty cheers in one vacation but went above and beyond the requirement of 60. We cheers to TO and OT. We cheersed to ken hamlin, Jerry Stackhouse and Brian Bosworth. We cheersed to Jan Palmer, Pam Axelson, and Becky. Yes nicole we drank to you to. We drank to girls on bikes, we drank to longboards the bar and longboards the surfboards. We drank to cheers the TV show as well as the act of cheersing. We drank to a whole lot of things that I cant recall because we drank too much. I would just like to say excellent work to myself and brett bauleke as well as the numerous beer makers, bar owner, cab drivers, and everyone else who participated and made this dream a reality, cheers to you all

Look at my foot

2006-07-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

The other night when trying to enter moondoggies the bouncer at the door stops me and inquires as to if I have been drinking. The only response I could come up with at the time was yes but only at the beach (as if the beach is some sort of safe haven where drinking does not count at all). The bouncer hesitates to this answer so I follow it up with look at my foot, not entirely sure where I was going with this but it worked out, they let me into the bar, awesome

Americorps

2006-07-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

So as promised on myspace I am using my blog to share information about the latest life altering decision I have made. Last week I decided that I will be leaving San Diego and moving to cape cod where I will be an americorps supervisor. The decision was a difficult one but I feel it was the proper one to make. San Diego is a wonderful place and I have had nothing but a good time since I got here. However times became much less fun once I started working at a dead end job that I completely despised. The beach the sun and the surfing will all be missed, as will the friends I have made since I arrived, but I realized that paradise is no longer paradise when you spend 40 hours a week doing something you hate with no end to it in sight. That is basically the thought that was going through my mind when I applied for the position with americorps. While I have my doubts that cape cod will be as nice as San Diego, in fact I have my doubts any place could be as nice as San Diego, I think it will be a good life experience to live on the east coast for a year. My number one reason for moving to San Diego was to experince living in a new part of the country and while I feel I have only scratched the surface of that hear cape cod will provide me the same opportunity. Additionally I really think the postition with amercorps will be something I truly enjoy. The problem I have been having since graduation is that I do not feel like life in a cubicle all day is the proper life for me. At the same time I dont really want to be a manual laborer and without a science degree there are not many other options in the environmental field. With amercorps I will both be networking and planning environmental restorationg projects and in the field supervising americorps crews with carrying out these projects. This hybrid aspect is very appealing to me. So although the money sucks and I have to move across the country to do it, I think I am making the proper choice in saving the world and doing it in a manner I can enjoy. If anyone has any questions about what I am doing or comments about my decision or americorps in general I would love to hear what others think about this.

4th

2006-07-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

The fourth of July in San Diego is pretty sweet, those of you who live down here already know this. For those of you that are unaware there is really only one thing I can say to encapsulate the sweetness of it, and that is the fact there was a doorman at the 7-11 last night. Thats right a 7-11 employee standing at the door to open it for all patrons coming and going. This raises some new questions of 7-11 etiquette. Is it proper to tip a 7-11 doorman. I generally dont believe in tipping people just for opening a door, but what if I need assistance in locating something? If I ask him where I can find the budweiser and he points me to the beer aisle does this service warrant a gratuity?

Pokez

2006-07-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

went to the beach today, tried boogie boarding but gave up after a lot of work and little success. Ocean Beach has a much lower beach jerk factor than pacific beach which is nice. After the beach We went to pokez and I enjoyed a delicious mahi mahi burito. Im not sure but I may have a new favorite burito joint. Brett and I are attempting to complete sixty cheers while he is down here visiting. The stipulations are as follows, no repeating any cheers whatsoever, if a cheers is repeated and you are called on it you must immediately pound your drink and buy the next round. Each drink can only be cheers'd once. it should make for alot of interesting things the next couple of days

Unemployed

2006-07-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was offered a total of $106.20 to quit my job. I obviously accepted. This also meant that I was able to go to cass street last night and hang out with ninjas and homies. Shane yelled about how some girl had saggy boobs. It was amusing

Jumpkicks

2006-07-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

After going out friday night in OB I awoke to the sweet soothing sounds of people screaming about the maggots in the kitchen. Once the maggots were removed I was given some sweet ass jumpkick lessons from a real life ninja. This was roughly par for the course after a night of drinking pink ninjas

Ass grabs for beer

2006-06-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot this amazing series of events from friday night
me to dave mar: here is your beer
dave marr: no thats yours
me:no its for you
DM: no its not
(these same two lines repeat another ten times or so until)
DM: Ill take it if you grab that chicks ass
Me: sure, grabbing random chicks ass as she walks by
Random chick: (turning with a comlete look of shock and dismay to this bold manuveur)
Me: (to random chick) you may go now
and dave mar kindly accepts the beer and I return to the bar for another one. Looking back on this story it makes simply no sense at all, which is why it is so awesome

obviously

2006-06-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Tavern sucks on saturday nights. Too many people who think they are too cool and not enough goofy people. This is kind of a pointless entry because this is a rather obvious fact

Thats mine biotch

2006-06-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

Last night some random chick kept stealing my hat from me at the bar. Let me be very clear here that this is simply unacceptable behavior. However Im not positive but I think I may have brought this upon myself by sneaking into the background of a picture she was taking and making goofy face. Anyways this happens the first time (she steals my hat) and I go over and goofy dance and the hat is returned. This was my fatal error because once someone sees the goofy dance they simply cant get enough of it. Roughly five minutes (or maybe an hour who knows the concept of time is very skewed when drunk) later I once again feel my hat snatched off my head. By the way this in itself is an impressive thing because this girl couldnt have been taller than like 5'4 so she had to get up pretty high to pull this off. Anyways the second time I deliver something I like to call the goofy sprinkler. Hat returned. Third time goofy running man. Fourth time goofy chicken dance. Fifth time goofy carlton (no where near as good as P. Donnys but hey I gave it my best). Anyways this carried on for god only knows how long. The morals of this story are many. First if you want my attention just talk to me. Second I should know better than to reward such unacceptable behavior with something as good as the goofy dance. Finally I love beer. That is all (I must go retrieve the truck from impound but more on that later

Extreme

2006-06-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

On a scale from one to ten with one being not extreme and ten being extremely extreme. This hangover rates about an 8.5 More information to come later.

Goofyness for all to enjoy

2006-06-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

As promised in my last post the ridiculous stories from san diego continued last night as I found myself once again and longboards and as is par for the course, really really drunk. What started off as simply making one goofy face for a picture quickly escalated into a battle of one ups manship involving myself, chris and stinkypants. There were many highlights but the top one for the evening would have to be putting bunny ears on the guy that was hitting on stinky pants shortly before playing the role as fake boyfriend to chase him away. The fake boyfriend card is a funny one to play after the guy had been hitting on stinky, or at least trying to, for the past twenty minutes or so while I was standing right there. Good times for all. Oh and what better way to end such an evening that running from Longboards in PB to clairemont barefoot. While this isnt nearly as exceptional as meatballs epic run from the UW to edmonds, the barefoot element makes it special in its own way. The goofy pics and dance are posted on stinkys blog, check them out and enjoy

Im not homeless

2006-06-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

For the past week or so the question of where I was going to be living was up in the air. Barry the landlord from hell, i.e. d-bag of the month and strong competitor for d-bag of the year decided that it was not alright for Chris and I to be subletting. Apparently we look like hooligans or something. Anyways it turns out that finding a new home in San Diego in roughly 72 hours time is not as easy as it should be, especially when people say they will call you back the next day but fail to and do not answer there fun. If it wasnt for Barry that guy would have been d-bag of the month. Fortunately I got the last laugh because as of last time I checked his apartment was not rented out which means he was losing about fifty bucks a day. Anyways as previously stated I have found a place to live, it is in Clairmont. If you know San Diego you know that this is not exactly the birthplace of cool but its cheap as hell and a month to month lease, pretty much the best thing I could have asked for on such short notice. I am renting a room in what I can only describe as a hippy commune. Its not quite a full hippy commune, Im not asked to raise anybodys kids or anything, but the people here do have meditation meetings and zen masters. The people are all nice though and it will provide some interesting life experience for me, I think. On the positive side Mission Bay is just minutes away and seems to have much less beach jerks than PB, Im pretty sure beach jerks prefer waves to the bay. Additionally it only takes me about half an hour to get to work on my bike and the hills provide a pretty good workout. Finally I found a Marshalls down here and it provided me with some super sweet T-shirts including the compton all stars shirt which I had been searching for in my size for about 2000 miles. Yes maybe things are starting to swing my way. Im probably going out tommorrow night so hopefully once again the stories of craziness in PB will resume now that the drama of Barry the Dbag landlord is behind me

A new game

2006-06-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

An amazing new drinking game was created last night, basically I was watching the suns mavericks game and decided it needed to become a drinking game. It was determined that every twelve points were scored by your time you had to consume a drink, a drink was defined as either 12 ozs of beer or a shot of liquor. I played with the mavericks and chris was the suns. At the end of the game we were both winners because it wasnt even eight and we were already pretty drunk. At seemed like a waste to not do something with this drunkenness so we decided to embark on a night out on the town. Several insights from the evening

-moondoggies has 3 dollar jager shots on saturdays, delicious

-moondoggies is a very difficult word to text message (seriously try it)

-people from new jersey arent neccessarily the dickheads I thought they were, in fact they can be quite pleasant and insightful

-Bathroom attendants are the second most annoying thing in the world just behind beach jerks.

-Longboards is the new go to spot for when Im almost blacked out and feel the need to push it over the edge

-beachcruisers sure are alot of fun to ride when your wasted, Im told the cops give tickets for such things though so I will not likely be doing it again any time soon

-When you call somebody once and they dont answer, they probably dont want to talk to you at 1:30 in the morning. When you call the seven more times they will finally answer but still dont want to talk to you. When you call them sixteen times they simply become pissed off.

-that is all

Beach Jerks

2006-06-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Went to the beach today. The beach jerk level was higher than is prefferable. I am curious as to what persuades people to become beach jerks and am thinking about studying this phenomenon. At the very least I will compile a list of ways to recognize beach jerks to keep anyone thinking about visiting safe. Keep an eye out for this in the future, or if you have any advice for such a list let me know.

And it begins

2006-05-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

So I was planning on starting a blog to keep everyone updated on the happenings of San Diego and in proper time it only took me three weeks. The last three weeks have been amazing, here are some of the highlights I can remember;

-George Clinton Concert at the San Diego House of Blues, definitely one of the coolest concerts Ive ever been too. One of the guitar players was wearing a diaper and smoking a joint and they played for 2+ hours straight.

-Taco Tuesday, my first introduction to taco tuesday was the same day baker finished finals. This day included many amazing things such as the entire crew walking into a bar, taking five shots consecutively and walking out. Returning home in a different shirt than I went out in. Remembering almost nothing between 9 and 2. Getting comletely lost on the way home, and doing some sweet ass jumpkicks when I finally made it back.

-Playing basketball on the outdoor courts at La Jolla, been there twice and still undefeated, people in San Diego suck at basketball.

-The beach, the beach, and the beach. Oh yeah and getting drunk on the beach and high fiving bikers on the way home.

-Rumplemintz and being a part of the inaguaral Rumpelweiser.

-Giant PBRs at Cass St

-Longboards home of the goofy dance, drunk people thinking Im the tallest person ever even though there is someone taller right next to me, some girl offering a hand job for a drink, me telling her that is troys department, man was he suprised with that reach around.

-Being nicknamed the Pit

-Last but not least sticking my head inside the giant popcorn machine in Mission Beach, best idea ever.

I think that is about it for the highlights from the past several weeks. Overall San Diego pretty much kicks ass so far. Stay tuned for more amazing highlights from the pit.