I haven't tried posting here in ages...

I'm just wondering if this will do the trick...

Well, so far, so good.  I don't see any problems.  Now, if only I had something interesting to say.  But, that's never been the point of a blog, considering most of the blogs I've ever read.

The Cold Entry
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: Nothing but the humidifier.
Yessiree, 76 degrees outside Wednesday afternoon, and I'm here spending most of my free time with the humidifier in my face because of this stupid cold I have. It's far from the worst cold I have ever had in my life, and not as bad as the last one I remember back in October 2004. Funny how I can remember exactly what month that was, but that cold was just that bad. It may have been flu for all I know. Anyway, I'm well enough to function at (nearly) normal levels. However, I do still need the refreshing power that you can only get from a humidifier.

Apropos of nothing, WWE will come to town on the 17th April, shooting both their Raw and Smackdown shows in the same evening. I am very tempted to actually see that. Two shows, one night, highest ticket price is "only" $50. It's cheaper than a good ticket at a Blues game, I know that much. Also, I could buy three $20 tickets and be assured that nobody sits in the immediate seat on either side of me. Wrestling fans, you know how "they" are.

Almost out of cough drops. That'll give me an excuse to go to the campus bookstore tomorrow morning when nothing's going on. I'll have to get honey lemon flavour, of course. Wouldn't use anything but.

The Super Entry
Mood:  lazy
First off, I do hope everybody's Candlemas and Blaisemas went off swimmingly and without a hitch.

It's February 5th now. That means it's been 18 years since Andre pinned Hogan, fair and square in the center of the ring, in Indianapolis to win the WWF championship. Ah, the memories.

Because I want to look vastly intelligent (or foolish), I hereby make my Super Bowl XL prediction: Steelers 38, Seahawks 21. And if Jerome Bettis has a significant amount of playing time, he'll get MVP, since it would make a great storyline. Or that Ben Roethlisberger will get it, being the quarterback. What I'd like to see happen is Roethlisberger having to miss a play or two, just to get the one-and-only XFL MVP Tommy Maddox into the game. Just like Tony Banks in Super Bowl XXV.

Of course, I think the Super Bowl-related question we all have on our mind is, "I wonder Al Lewis had any money riding on the game?"

The Chili Entry
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: 10:00 News on KMOV Ch. 4
Let the semester begin!

Well, tomorrow, anyway. And it’s about bloody time, too. It was fun when I was a college student, and we got so much time off between fall and spring semesters. In the role of employee, though, I do find myself missing the faculty, other staff and, yes, those charming little urchins who fill the desks of the classrooms, eager to learn and raring to go. I say that now; I’m sure I’ll think otherwise by 10:00 tomorrow morning.

No, I take that back. It’s only a very small number who annoy me, and that won’t be for a week or two, when they won’t have the slightest clue how to ask for a videotape, how a VCR works, or how to tell the difference between monitor 1 and monitor 2. Oh, and one of my personal favorites:

Student: I can’t hear the videotape.
Me: You have to put on the headphones.
Student: Huh?
Me: Can you dig it?

And so the student stares blankly at the area just above my left ear, puts on the headphones, and I chuckle. You see, some students are just so dumb, one needn’t suppress one’s laughter around them. They have no clew.

I enjoyed last week very much. Work resumed, but it was quiet and uneventful. The moment I always look forward to the week before spring semester starts is the annual Chili Cook-off Friday afternoon. So many chilis, so little time. I believe there were nine chilis in the running, as well as the giant pots of standard cafeteria chili. It’s difficult to make bad chili, and all of the ones last Friday were simply delicious.

There was a contest, Guess the Number of Beans in the Jar. They have that every year during the cook-off, and every year I’m way off in the number. However, I think I’ve figured things out. As I filled out my slip of paper with my bean total, there was a guy to my right. Hardly looking at the bean jar, he filled out his slip with name, phone extension , and the bean total of 6450. I did take note of that, and thought that number was, indeed, vaguely familiar to me. Highway nut that I am, I chalked it up to the fact that the week prior, I drove along a stretch of highway that is both I-64 and U.S. 50. Sure enough, though, when the time came, that guy was the winner, having been only six away from the exact total of 6456. What I think happened is, he remembered how many beans were in the jar in past years, and based his number on those memories. He could have written 6456, too, but that might have raised eyebrows. Very clever of him. I do hope the ceramic pot he won was worth keeping that number in his head all that time.

I bought a bunch of swell items in ebay over the break, and they have all arrived safely and soundly. That would include a full set of Legends of Wrestling action figures, models of an old-time St. Louis streetcar and bus, and four old St. Louis Republic newspapers, each nearly 100 years old. It was funny to see a reference to the Chicago Cubs as “World’s Champions” in one of the 1909 papers. And they haven’t been “World’s Champions” since then. Forgive me if I don’t cry over that.

The Second Super Entry
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: King of the Hill on KTVI (Ch. 2)
I defeated Super Mario Bros. 2 in one go this afternoon. It was fairly simple, and I had about 35 extra lives to spare when I finished the game. That one’s definitely the “lesser” game in the Super Mario Bros. series. I’m not that enamored of the Lost Levels, either.

I did some more cleaning ‘round the place today. It’s looking slightly more presentable than before. Before long, it will be a magnificent showplace. Right now, what I need is a new chair. That’ll give me something to look for tomorrow afternoon.

Uh, that’s it, really.

The Super Entry
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: SportsCenter on ESPN
Oh, man. Michigan was ripped off. Completely ripped off. Nebraska football, always winning with the underhanded tactics.

I boxed up my TV Guides earlier today. I decided the bookshelf they were occupying would be better served for my other twisted plans. I moved the bookshelf over to the other side, where I’ve created a little shrine for memorabilia from the play, sports items, and so forth. It’s not much, but I like it. I still have no prime spot for the life-sized photo of myself from the play. I enjoyed every bit of the play process, but even if it had been a disaster, that life-sized picture alone would have made it all worth it.

I don’t care what anybody else thinks, but that blue football field they have up at Boise State is awesome. Awesome, I tell you.

I had never beaten Super Mario Bros. in one go; that is, start the game at World 1-1 and finish it without having to hit “continue” after all my lives had been killed off. (I know, you knew what I meant, but just in case somebody didn’t, there you are.) Never beaten it, that is, until last night. I “wisely” started the game around 1:30 in the morning, and not only did I beat the game, I beat it four straight times before losing my final life in World 5 of Game 5. My 2,000,000+ points simply crushed my old record of around 400,000. I brought this tale whilst speaking with Chris earlier, and I freely admitted to taking full advantage of the Warp Zones to accomplish my feats. Thus, I played it again earlier this evening. This time, the goal was to go through each and every world and win the game. I’m pleased to announce I did just that. I just won the game once, I had no interest in sitting around for another several hours like I did last night/this morning.

Wow, what a great story. I’m only halfway through my winter break. Heaven knows what kinds of monkeyshines I’ll get myself into in the next week-and-a-half.

The Teeth Entry
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: The Blues losing to Anaheim on FSN Midwest
The dentist visit went well yesterday. Since I hadn’t been there in a good long time, they took some x-rays of my teeth. Apparently, I have two teeth I didn’t know existed. That’s due to them being below the gums. The previously-unknown wisdom tooth in my lower right mouth is coming in/has come in completely sideways. It’s under my gum, so it’s not noticeable to the eye. It sure made for a creepy-looking x-ray, though. The dentist said that as long as I’m not in any physical discomfort, there should be no worries regarding it. I have no physical pain, but now there’s that mental situation that tells me there’s an errant tooth, lurking down there below the gum line, clearly plotting its strategy to strike when the other teeth are vulnerable.

Oh, I have to get a new mouth guard, too, but not as interesting as a lurking, stray tooth.

One random thought now. Perhaps I'm still bitter about the 2004 World Series, but I think it's utterly hilarious that Johnny Damon dropped the Red Sox like a bad habit and signed that $52,000,000 deal with the Yankees. Evil Empire, indeed. I say the Yankees are the lesser of two evils there. Either that, or it's better the devil you know. Or something. I'm not a Red Sox fan, and Joe Torre is an A-OK guy, so I think the Damon deal is brilliant. Har-dee-har-har.

I have no negative thoughts about the Cardinals signing Sidney Ponson. Isn't it great that a potential $2,500,000 contract can be considered "low-risk" financially? If a fat, underachieving 29-year-old can get that kind of deal in St. Louis, I get the feeling I chose the wrong profession.

And that’s about it. As someone once said, “Bye for now. Keep your teeth clean.”

The Funeral Entry
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: 10:00 News on KMOV (Ch. 4)
Today was the first “real” day of Christmas vacation. Well, “winter break” is what they call it at the college, but we all know the truth. So, what better way to spend this day off than go to a funeral? Dad and I went to Aunt Pat’s funeral this morning. I rather enjoy funerals, at least I find them preferable to visitations. At funerals, there’s plenty of time for silent prayer and reflection. At the visitation last night, my time was filled with standing around chatting with people I didn’t really know, and who really know who I was. Fortunately, I took the liberty to eavesdrop in conversations and found out a little more here and there about Dad’s side of the family. I should be able to match some more names with faces in future.

On the plus side, my scale informs me I lost five pounds in 24 hours. Mind you, that means I’m still 241, and I could stand to drop plenty more. Still, I am just one pound over where I was in 2000 when I started drinking less soda and more water. Since the, my lowest weight was 216 pounds in the summer of 2002. In that time, my diet didn’t really change, I just cut down on the sugary sodas and drank more water. In the past year or so, my soda intake increased sharply as my water drinking decreased, thus the poundage grew. The way I see it, if I can revert to more water/less soda, and trim down from “obese” to merely “fat,” I shall be happy.

But that must wait, as I still have some regular sodas to polish off. You know, waste not, want not, and all that stuff.

I guess those peanut butter & rice clusters they sell at Target don’t help, either. But they’re just so delicious.

I go to the dentist tomorrow. Yee-haw. That’ll be a trip, I’m sure. That follows a visit from some plumber in the morning. Hey, I can show you exactly where that leak is coming from, but you can bring in a plumber to caulk the tub anyway. Doesn’t offend me one bit. Bleah, what a vacation so far. Once I get the dental visit out of the way, I should be able to enjoy my time until the 9th of January. By then, I should be properly sick of vacation and eager to go back to work. But all of this can be better discussed in future weblog entries. Take care until then.

The Questionable Entry
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: The sounds of the heater a-blowing and Twotone a-eating.
So, since Mike Farrell, Bianca Jagger, Jesse Jackson, etc. have gotten all worked up demanding justice for Tookie, do you think they'll be just as happy, eager, and willing to spend as many hours on the streets and over the airwaves demanding the same for a certain D.W. on death row in that same state?

Nope, I didn't think so.

The Birthday Entry
Mood:  silly
Now Playing: Late Show with David Letterman (He's interviewing Regis, who's pretending to be Oprah)
So, this is my birthday, then. Thirty. I feel much better than the last day of twenty-nine. Going back to work after the lengthy weekend made for a tired, cranky fellow. Today was fun, though. I received a few presents, a few phone calls, Steve and Tate each promised to buy me a Bloody Mary in the future, and I spent most of my free time relaxing. I'm already sure the thirties are overrated, but I'm also certain most everything nowadays is overrated.

I guess we did have tornadoes 'round these parts Sunday evening. Apparently, one hit Maplewood near their new shopping center. Sure, it was an F-0, and the most it destroyed was a tool shed, but hey, a tornado's a tornado, and there hasn't been one so close to this location since 1896.

Yeah, that's all for now. There's more I could type, but I'm going to do my best to fill up this new weblog with multiple entries until I get tired and find some other new hobby/toy/interest.