The Drive Back to Ann Arbor

I forgot the video first posting.

Greetings fans. A special shout-out to my international readers.

It's been 4 days since my last post and I've gone a long way since Phoenix. I've visited Manhattan and Las Vegas. Sadly the Manhattan was in Kansas, and the Las Vegas was in New Mexico.

After staying with my buddy Jon, I started making the 2 day drive to Kansas. The first day I drove north from Phoenix and turned East at Flagstaff. After turning onto I-40. I started seeing cops every 5-10 miles. Since getting a ticket would hurt my budget for the trip, I played it safe and put the cruise control at 77, which seemed reasonable on a 75MPH highway. About 30 miles and 6 cops later, I got pulled over for speeding. I was pulled over and issued a warning for going 2 over the limit because as the officer told me "In northern Arizona, 75 means 75". He was also pretty convinced that I was hauling large amounts of methamphetamine back to Michigan in the large containers that had my camping gear. Unfortunately for him, I didn't have time for him to get a chance to find out.

University Stadium - New Mexico

After getting a little behind, I made it to Albuquerque where I grabbed a snack with my cousin Meg. After that I went north to Santa Fe and eventually to Las Vegas, NM. I had picked out a state park that on the map looked like a really cool lake surrounded by the forests of the southern Rockies. It actually was a large dirty and rocky field with a dried out lake. To make matters worse there was a burn ban in effect so I couldn't even have a fire. It wasn't my favorite night camping.

Camping in New Mexico

On Wednesday I woke up and hit the road for Kansas. It was another long 11 hour drive plus I lost another hour to time changes. After an uninspiring drive through Kansas, I made it to my buddy Jones's place around 7:30. We grilled some burgers and drank some beers and watched 3 episodes of Jeopardy. It was an overall terrific evening, and since we hadn't seen each other in about 3 years it was great to catch up and a quintessential element of my current life goals of keeping in touch with people.

Bill Snyder Family Fun Football Facility - Kansas State

Thursday I left to drive to Chicago which was another 11 hour haul including a brutal stretch across Missouri. In Chicago I stayed with my old roommate and went  to the bar to watch the blackhawks game. We ended getting back to his place around 11 and then stayed up until 2am half watching the Larry Sanders show and  mostly bullshitting. I always enjoy Chicago and this morning we slept in and got a late breakfast before I left for Michigan.

Memorial Stadium - University of Kansas

I got into A2 around 4:30 and met the two guys who are living in the house that I'm subletting a room in. It's right next door to the house I lived in in college and I've had 3 sets of friends live in this house when I was a student, which was part of the reason I picked it. Within 10 minutes of getting to Ann Arbor we left to go to the Heidelberg for free wings and $2 beers. That's why college towns are awesome.

I've provided some pictures of the house as I came across them moving in. This is exactly the same condition the house was in when I was a student. It's going to take some getting used to living in filth again, but I think I'm up for the challenge. For your sake I'm not picturing the bathroom. It's good to be back in Ann Arbor though. Sorry if the pictures are upside down.

Not pictured - Laptop on the kitchen floor

Nativity Scene

Casual Carlos Rossi Jug chilling in the hot corner

Amen brother.

Doesn't taste half bad

When I was a kid my dad held the firm belief that you could put anything into Mac and Cheese. We had it all, and most of it was pretty good. I remember eating Mac and Cheese with all sorts of things in it including, peas, hot dogs, green pepper, ranch dip, onion, coleslaw, and summer sausage, just to name a few. I distinctly remember one time having Mac and Cheese with a can of baked beans mixed in. I don't have any explanation to why that couldn't have been just a side dish (also, not so good). Once as a kid I combined my two favorite foods, Oreo's and mustard. It was then that I found out that two good things don't necessarily combine to form something better.

One of the nice things about being in Chicago this summer is that I can cook in a kitchen that isn't in the Box house. I thought that I would be making great dinners. My cubiclemate always tells me about the dinners he made the previous night; Beef Enchiladas, Chicken Parmigiana, Beef Wellington. I tell him what I ate for dinner: Spaghetti with Prego, Michelinas, Cereal. He says that I just eat college food, and he is probably right.

One of my main staples is grilled cheese. I might eat between 6-8 grilled cheese's a week. Mostly, I love sprucing up my grilled cheese with whatever is in the fridge. You know what I have found? Every sauce tastes good on a grilled cheese. Some variations I have tried include, Tabasco, mustard (sans Oreo), ketchup, BBQ, onion dip, other cheese, pogs, Russian dressing, horseradish and a few others. They were all delicious. I would suggest next time you sit down to cook up a cheeser, you grab whatever sauce or salad dressing you have in the fridge and slop it on.

Happy Cheesing!

Life in Chi-Town

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile I've been pretty busy. Actually that is a lie. I wrote one of the best story blogs I have ever written. It is at Tucker Max level. It's about going back to Ann Arbor and a wedding over last weekend. I would publish it but it's a little raunchy, and it is one of those things I would never want my kids or any girl to read. I have a few blogs that are really good but I just can't bring myself to publish them because they involve some nefarious acts, perhaps with readers of this blog. I guess I draw the line just below pooping in a box. And the point of this blog is to get chicks, not scare them away. So instead I'll share with you a little look into my life.

My life has fallen into a bit of a routine but I like it. I've been cooking for myself, which is something that I really can't do in the Box house. The best I could do at school was Michealinas, which were 10 for 10$ at Meijer. Michealinas has three levels of pricing which is; budget for 1$, regular for 1.50$ and gourmet for 2$. The thing is that some of the budget entrees are the best, and since they all cost the same at school I just got the ones I wanted. In Chicago however, they actually form to the pricing plan, and oh boy do I look poor when I buy the budget Michealinas and Wacky Mac (which btw has absolutely no branding on it). But just last week I made Chicken Parmigiana. It only took 4 ingredients but it was one of the best dinners I have made in a long time.

I have also been reading more. I didn't really read much between the ages of 12 and a month ago. I read a few books for high school classes but I missed out on a most of the great classics. I even took a class my second semester senior year called reading for enrichment, which was designed for kids who were planning on graduating and was "taught" my the drama teacher. I didn't really read anything unless you count The Multiple Man as a book (high school newspaper reference). I think I spent a week in that class reading a road map. Luckily my roommate has a great collection of books so I've been catching up on some good novels and autobiographies. I just finished reading some J.D. Salinger short stories, and while I did read Catcher in the Rye in high school, and as much I hear that I remind people of Holden Caulfield, I dislike every character Salinger has ever created. I think it stems from his overuse of the word "goddam".

I also try to watch a movie every night from my roommates 1000 disc collection. I'm finally watching all of those movies that you have always wanted to see, but never wanted to rent/admit it. I also watch at least one episode of South Park every night. I like to see the shows transition from plot based episodes to mainly pure social commentary.

On the weekends I usually wander around Chicago getting gay and seeing the city. I am going to try to make it up to the school where they filmed Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I also play beach volleyball once a week, go out with the other interns and "hang out" with Vickery's GF.

I have some better posts in the works, but in the mean time, WTF with the coinage comments? And thanks to everyone who wrote/texted/gchatted about taking office poops. It easies my work load to know that your easing your work load.

Brian Gets Gay

That's what we in the blogohole call a hook. What? He got gay? With a Dude? I kinda always knew. No I didn't really get gay, but I got close to gay. And what is gay? Gay is the 39th Annual Chicago Gay Pride Parade. I went for the lesbians, and I stayed for the drag queens on unicycles. Also, it turns out there is a big difference between porno lesbians and real life lesbians. Who knew?

I was really fun and pretty cool and best of all is that it is only 2 blocks from my house. I had mentally braced for it, but was still a little in awe. I took some pictures that I will share with you. You shouldn't be reading my blog at work anyways.

Like any good parade, it is important to start off with a tranny in the back of a hummer



Whatever this is... I hope the guy in the blue gets his hi-five


For some reason this guy wasn't a big hit


Of course the ROTC showed up. That's the Ridiculously Outrageous Twirling Corps, naturally.

I had a gay old time. On the way back home I was walking down the side street to my house, when someone yelled my name from across the street. Sure enough it was the Knapps and Elizibeth. It's not often that I randomly see my college friends hanging out a half block from my house. They said the only reason they noticed me was because I was wearing a Michigan shirt. Imagine that, if it wasn't for my shirt choice I would have probably walked right by them. The only word I could use to describe it was bizarre. Because that's what it was.