communication breakdown

On the Horizon

The temperatures are falling. The crisp breeze has cut through the summer heat. The leaves are gasping for their final breaths as they begin to change colors. All of this means one thing - the inevitable gloom of winter is on the way. What scares me is that everyone said last year was "a mild winter". Talk about an overstatement. How can any winter be called "mild" when it involved -20 temps on several occasions, and had two straight weeks where the temperature didn't go above 0? Sure, it might not have been the coldest on record, but to call it mild just seems wrong. What's in store this year? You'll be hearing about it here, I'm quite sure...

This past weekend I travelled back to Wisconsin to attend an official Referee's Seminar. We spent about 5 hours going over all of the rules and regulations for USTF TaeKwon-Do tournaments, which was pretty taxing. But then we each got a chance to roleplay by acting as the center referee in a ring while two other people fought. It's a completely different experience from being a competitor, because you have to be in control and keep your eyes on everything. But it was a lot of fun and, assuming I passed the written test, I will be certified to act as a referee at any local/regional event, or act as scorekeeper at an oficial Nationals event. A year from now I can upgrade my certification and actually participate as a judge at Nationals.

I will be going back to Wisconsin in two weeks for the yearly Fall Tournament held there. I should get to do a mixture of competing and judging which will be fun. Hopefully I'll have some cool pictures, and maybe bring home a medal or two.

In other news, I think I have finalized most of my fall/winter travelling and I'm realizing that I'm going to be getting around more than normal. Here are the trips on the immediate horizon:

• Atlanta for GT Homecoming, October 15 - 17
  
• Jacksonville for Thanksgiving, November 24 - 27
  
• Las Vegas with several fraternity brothers to watch a basketball game (GT vs. Gonzaga) and to do The Vegas Thing, December 16 - 21
  
• Jacksonville for Christmas, December 21 - 27

I won't be at home for New Year's, which is a first, but I'm sure I can find something cool to do in the Twin Cities. Whatever it is will have to be indoors, however, because standing around outside in January is not such a great idea up here.

That's really about all I had to say, so I'll wrap up with some miscellaneous things on my mind:

• I'm tired of coming across beat-up old cars littered with bumper stickers. 9 times out of 10 it is some crappy stationwagen covered with stupid Democratic slogans. Check it out for yourself - next time you approach one of these pieces of junk, have a look at the garbage they put on their cars. There is always the obligatory Kerry/Edwards sticker, and then some unique combination of ideological statements such as "Abortion is Great!" or "I Want to Martyr Myself for the Environment". Note that you never see people on the right doing such stuff. Probably because they are sane, unlike most liberals.
  
• By the way, if anyone ever tries to argue with you about why income redistribution is good, send them here.
  
• I have the perfect idea for a new challenge for those Road Rules folks: cleaning George Foreman grills. I mean, all you have to do is hand them a dirty GF grill and give them several hours to get it fully clean. Because I can attest to the fact that you can clean those suckers all day long and not get any real results. I think there's a built-in grease well that slowly leaks out crud, but only while you're cleaning it. That way, you eventually go crazy, throw it against the wall, and have to buy a new one. You could also use it as a challenge for those Fear Factor crazies. I think if I had to choose between cleaning one of those things all day long, or jumping into an aquarium full of maggots - I might just jump on in...
  
• So on my way back from Wisconsin I stopped into Cracker Barrel and bought some of those nonpareils candies. Sure, they are good - that's indisputable. But what I'm wondering is, who chose that name? Could you pick a name for candy that sounds less tasty than "nonpareils"? What does it mean, anyways? Clearly, we know they are not pareils. Great. I don't even know what a pareil is, let alone what a nonpareil would be. Can't we just call them "chocolate discs with little white sugar pellets on top"? I think I'm going to call someone about this...