DeeZ LoVes SpoTtEd Cow

The answer my friends is blowing in the wind

2010-06-08T21:36:00.004-05:00

This has got to be the first time I have actually kept up with this blog. There have been several big events in my life lately, so I figured I better

get them on the blog before I forget. Here it goes.

The first big happening is actually not a very happy one by any means. This past weekend I discovered that one of my good friends had passed away. Initially, I was quite shocked, and sort of in a state of denial. It did not really hit home until I attended the funeral services a couple days later. It turns out that at 25 years old, nobody is really ready to say goodbye to a friend. This has been my first experience with losing somebody unexpectedly, and so I find myself dealing with a wide array of emotions. The most prominent being that I think a lot of times I take my friends and family for granted. When you have great friends, they are always there for you, and supporting you. Nobody has to ask them to be there. For that reason, it is so easy to forget that their being a part of your life is really a gift. Along with that comes the finding on my part that sometimes you don’t realize how big of a role other people play in your life until they are no longer a part of it.

I have decided to make an effort to let more of my friends know how much I enjoy their company and that I am truly thankful for all they have done for me in life. I can honestly say I have been blessed with wonderful friends and family, as well as a wonderful wife that I know cares the world for me.

The only bright spot to come out of the funeral is that a good portion of my college friends whom I hadn’t seen in quite some time all managed to get to Milwaukee to honor the life of our buddy. After the services, it was nice to gather together and share memories and stories over a few pints of Guinness. It was a great moment in my life where for a short time life slowed down, and everything seemed calm again.

Sorry to start the post on a down note, but it was something that hit me pretty hard. However, there is some better news as of late. I have made the decision that I want to attend chiropractic school. I am currently in the process of applying. This past weekend, Gina and I went to visit National University of Health Sciences just outside Chicago. I absolutely fell in love with it. I did not know what to expect going there, but by the time we left, I knew this is the place I am supposed to be. Now, I just have to sit here and hope that they feel the same way about me.

My hope as of now is that I am able to start school this coming May. The biggest challenge to arise from that scenario is that Gina would still be in dental school for one more year. That would put her in school in Milwaukee, and me in school outside Chicago. Our leading option is to relocate to a middle point between the two cities and split the distance commuting. For one year, we would be spending far more time on the road than either one of us would like to, but it would be for a good cause, and again, it is only one year.

So this post has taken me longer than I had anticipated, so I will just leave it at that. I have plenty more to say, but it should give me incentive to get back on much sooner.

Other thoughts, interests, etc…

Favorite beer of recent days:

Pressing 78 Porter (Milwaukee Ale House)

A rich mahagony ale with warm malt flavors and hints of raisins

6% ABV

Favorite Movie:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Recent Restaurant adventure:

Water Buffalo in Milwaukee’s third ward

If I were a food critic, I would give it 3.75 out of 5 stars. I went with the spicy black bean burger…it was pretty delicious.

Book I am currently reading:

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

Book I am currently reading in secret:

Are you there Vodka? It’s me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

Note: Photo up top is the Walleye I caught over Memorial Day weekend

There you are blog

2010-05-25T11:58:00.001-05:00

Well, since I am not very good at maintaining this blog, I have a lot of ground to make up. I am going to try and give the abbreviated version of where my life is at now since my most recent post. It is very likely this will be spread out over several posts, but that should give me incentive to finally blog with some sort of regularity.

The most obvious change to my life has certainly been my new marriage. That’s right folks, Gina is now my wife! We were married last August in Wausau, WI. The wedding turned out fantastic, and it was wonderful to spend the day with so many special friends and family members we’ve grown with throughout our lives. Gina was absolutely gorgeous, and I truly felt like the luckiest man in the world being able to stand up at the altar as she walked down the aisle to take my hand in marriage.

We have been living in Milwaukee now for the past 2 years. The more time I spend in Milwaukee, the more I absolutely love it. I thought it was going to be hard to leave our lives in Madison behind. However, we have made such great friends here, and we are always busy due to all the neat things there are to see and do. To give you an idea, I have created a short list of activities along with brief descriptions of why they are awesome:

Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Games – Although Brewers games are not new to us, it has been so much fun being able to attend them on a regular basis. The great thing about Brewers games is that it is about more than just the baseball. There is of course tailgating! On several occasions this has been more fun than the game itself. Think Brats, Beer, Bags, Friends, and the occasional dance party.

Milwaukee Bucks Basketball – I know many of you are surprised that I would be putting this on my list. However, I have recently pledged my loyalty to this young, fun and exciting team. Milwaukee has a savior in town, and his name is BJ3 (Brandon Jennings). Oh, and don’t forget one of the top centers in the league…Andrew Bogut. I had to opportunity to attend a couple really amazing games this year with my buddy Zac. We first attended a Bucks vs. Lakers matchup. Kobe Bryant ripped our hearts out with an OT buzzer beater, but the stadium was rocking…well worth our hard earned $10. Secondly, as you know, the Bucks made the playoffs, and I was able to attend Game 4 of the series. The Bucks took it to the Hawks knotting the series up at 2 games a piece. Not bad for a team that was supposed to get swept. FEAR THE DEER! Got a glimpse of the 2012 NBA Champions!

Marquette Basketball – I know many of you are even more surprised that I would be putting this on my list. Don’t panic, my loyalty is still tied to my Wisconsin Badgers. We got a season ticket package, and we definitely got a great deal. It was fun to watch Big East basketball, which is very different from the Big Ten basketball we are used to. Marquette fans are very passionate about their Golden Eagles. Who says a guy can’t root for two teams?

Milwaukee Brewery Tours – How could this be anything but fun? We have done several brewery tours since our arrival. Most notably is the Lakefront Brewery tour. Costs a few bucks but is guided by some people who are truly passionate about their brews, and you get a fair amount of samples along with a souvenir pint glass. We have also been to the Rock Bottom Brewery, Milwaukee Ale House, and of course Miller. The Miller tour is FREE, and comes with 3 glasses of Beer!

Summerfest – The World’s Largest Music Festival. 11 days, 11 stages, and over 800 bands. Held at the Summerfest grounds on Milwaukee’s lakefront. The lakefront itself is a great place to spend your time with sandy beaches and plenty of space to take in the sunshine!

Cultural Festivals – Festa Italiana, Polish Fest, Irish Fest, Bastille days (French), German Fest…the list goes on. Food, music, beer, and great times a plenty.

That is just a small sample of what has been occupying our free time when we have it. Now it is time for the extremely fast run through of other thoughts, interests, etc…

Favorite shows I’m currently watching and loving: Modern Family, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Dexter, No Reservations, and most of the HGTV programming.

Favorite Activity: Biking! Gina and I got new road bikes, and now cycling has completely consumed me. I love it!

Favorite Beer: It’s a 3-way tie. Beer #1: Naughty Scot Scotch Ale from Rock Bottom Brewery. Beer #2: Louie’s Demise Ale from Milwaukee Ale House. Beer #3 Tripel Nova from Ale Asylum.

Favorite Pastime: The Milwaukee Brewers winning games

Book I am reading: In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan. Great read, and very informational.

Best advice I have received lately: How to run a marathon: “Step one, start running. Step two, there is no step two.” -Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

That’s it for now, I hope to get back to you soon.

Hold on to your Lugnuts!

2007-12-21T22:26:00.000-06:00

Let's see...where's a good place to start? Well, I learned a very valuable lesson a few months back. If you are ever going to go skinny dipping at Lake Wingra in Madison, Wisconsin in August beware of mosquitoes! Those bastards are relentless, and if you are dumb enough to go to the lake in just a pair of shorts (or less) you will be in the price. (note photo to the left)

Ok, on to the serious stuff. This year has been a whole new adventure for me altogether. I live in a new house with two new roommates. It wasn't that hard to get used to because they are long time friends of mine from back home, but there were a few things to get used to right away. I do often times miss the old college life, but is is nice being able to lounge on the couch all day on Sundays if I wish. We have been having our fair share of fun though. As you may recall skinny dipping in Wingra, but we have also done tons of other things such as making a Turducken, which was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! I am in the process of uploading a bunch of photos online, and the Turducken photos are already up, so feel free to take a look.

I have been spending my week days working in the core laboratory at UW Hospital here in Madison since August. The position I have is not always the most stimulating, but it pays the bills, and I am getting good experience for later on. We recently got very awesome news...Gina was accepted to the Marquette School of Dentistry in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are both very excited about that. The current plan is to relocate to the Milwaukee area sometime next summer. The apartments we have looked into seem pretty nice. One of the places has a pool and sundeck on the roof of a 20 story building overlooking downtown Milwaukee. It is a little pricey but we might do it anyway. Once Gina gets rolling in school, the plan is for me to get back in school also. I think I am going to get into an accelerated nursing program and finish that up in about 20 months. Then I can either work as an RN or pursue further training to reach my final goal of a nurse anesthetist. With that said, life has been going great, and the future looks even brighter. Maybe in a few years I will actually have enough money to come visit all of you.

Anyway, that's long enough for now. I hope to get linked up to all of my old friends through the blogosphere soon. I have noticed many of you have blogs, so get in touch with me so I can link up (something like Captain Planet). That's about it.

Peace,

Deezy

Do you believe in magic?

2007-06-27T11:19:00.000-05:00

Last night was amazing!!! I went to my first Milwaukee Brewers game of the season. It took a long time to finally get there, but the wait was well worth it. I saw a half inning of baseball that was probably one of the greatest I will ever see. It was the bottom of the sixth inning and the Crew were trailing the Houston Astros 4-2. This score made me especially unhappy because they got the lead by ex-brewer Carlos Lee belting a 2 run homer earlier in the game. However, all this would change in the bottom of the sixth. The Brewers came out and loaded the bases right away for Rickie Weeks. He hit a triple that would clear the bases and give the Crew the 5-4 lead. Eventually the triple would be counted as a single with an error, which I think is total bogus because the outfielder did not error…he simply missed the ball completely. Anyway, that was very exciting and would have been sufficient for the Brewer faithful. At this time Tony Graffanino came into the game to relieve the current pitcher. Graffanino ended up going yard for a 2 run shot giving the Brewers the 7-4 lead. The story gets even more amazing yet. The Brewers would then load the bases again and Johnny Estrada would come to the plate. After a couple swings I asked my friend next to me if Estrada had ever hit a Grand Slam. His response was, “No”. So I looked over at Estrada at the plate and I said, “what a perfect time to hit your first grand slam”. The next pitch sailed across the plate and Estrada got a hold of it, and it was back, back, way back, going, GONE!!!! GRAND SLAM!!!! All of this in one inning, and still the Brewers had only 1 out. However, the magic would end there, but the Crew would hold on to an 11-5 victory and made my $20 ticket well worth it. Another piece of exciting info was that Brewer rookie Ryan Braun managed to go 3-4 with a first inning HR to get the game started. The future is looking bright for Milwaukee.

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken

2007-06-19T10:06:00.000-05:00

Well, my world has changed some since the last blog post, and I have a whole new set of things I need/want to do and accomplish. Anyway, this is what is going on in my life currently…

I recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Actually, I sort of graduated from the UW…I walked in the graduation ceremony, but I am still slightly short of the credits I need for my degree to be valid, which leads me to number 3.
I just started a 3 credit Wildlife Ecology course about extinction of species. I think it should be fun. The course only lasts 4 weeks, and when that is complete I will be finished with school for at least a year.
I am currently job searching. I need to find a job to occupy my time for the next year, and not to mention I NEED $$$. I have kept my job search really narrow. I am looking into several jobs at different hospitals around the Madison area, and I am also looking into a couple research positions as well. The problem with that is I have no specific area of research I would like to study so I don’t really know what to look for at all.
My girlfriend Gina moved into my house with my 3 other roommates since spring semester ended. That is a whole new adventure for me, and I sure living with 4 guys has been even more of an adventure for her. The change has been going great so far, and it really helps a lot that she gets along with my roommates well…sometimes better than with me. Even though we share a tiny room together we still get a lot of space from one another. Gina is currently working a full time job over the summer for a dental clinic. In the meantime, she is busy applying to dental school. I am really excited because she is applying to schools all over the country, so in a year or so, I will most likely be moving to a new location that I have never lived before. Now that school's out for summer, we actually have a little bit of free time to hang out. The terrace has definitely become a favorite of ours (see photo at the bottom).
Since my roommates have been pretty busy with their summer jobs, and I have lots of extra time when I am not at class, I have really gotten back to my true passion…COOKING! I have cooked a meal nearly every day since graduation. My favorite thing to do in this beautiful weather is grilling. The other day Gina and I got ostrich burgers from the farmers market, and gave them a try. They are fantastic. Ostrich burgers are like red meat, and have half the fat of chicken. Also, the farmers marke t (check out the slide show) here in Madison is unbelievable, and gives me a reason to wake up on Saturday mornings.
I have been working out on a regular basis for over a month now. It feels really good to be active again. I have been lifting weights, running, biking, and playing Ultimate Frisbee games with my roommates and girlfriend in the Madison Ultimate Frisbee League. That has turned out to be a lot of fun. I have finally gotten to the point where I am seeing results from working out. The results are nice because they make the previous work worth it, but also give me incentive to keep up with the workouts. I actually look forward to workouts now rather than dread them…most likely because I am in good enough shape where I don’t feel like I am going to die every time I go for a run.
The last big thing I have been up to lately is catching up on my Blockbuster Online Queue. I recently switched over to Blockbuster from Netflix. I love it. I get twice the movies for the same price. Recently I viewed Syriana, Luck Number Slevin, Smokin’ Aces, The Queen, and The Da Vinci Code. I enjoyed all of them except for The Queen. After the awards it won, I really had higher expectations of The Queen, and it definitely fell short. Some items I am waiting to see are Breach, Hannibal Rising, Children of Men, Delicatessen, Hotel Rwanda, and Northern Exposure Season 1. I also should be getting Adaptation in the mail today, so I know what I’ll be doing tonight.

That is pretty much what I am up to these days. I’ll try and keep this blog up to date a little more.

“If the facts don’t fit the theory…change the facts” - Albert Einstein

Still Kickin'

2007-01-23T13:33:00.000-06:00

Well, it’s really been a while since I last used this blog. The Intermediate Composition class I was in, which required me to use this blog has come to an end. However, I would like to see if I can actually continue to post on occasion. I would recommend to anybody who is enrolled as an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and needs to take English 201 as a requirement, to try and get into Scot Barnett’s section if he is still teaching. The course was great, and the information learned in that class was actually useful in today’s communications. Besides gaining useful information in the course, the class meetings were almost always enjoyable since it was set up in a discussion format. Therefore, we were able to learn, as well as the occasional BSing which was good for the learning soul, I guess you could say.

So anywho, I have moved onto my 8th and final semester here at the UW, and I am pretty excited. I have an insane schedule, and I am definitely in way over my head, but it’s all good. I would like to get good grades, but passing my classes is goal #1. Since I will be graduating in May I have really been looking ahead into my future, and it is really fun to think about. I will be taking some time off after graduation to move on to the working world for about a year. My goal is to make as much money as I can in one year as possible, and during that time my girlfriend Gina will be finishing up her undergrad here as well, since she is a year behind me. She is going to move on to dental school, and I am simply waiting to find out which school she gets accepted to. My goal is to be engaged at that time, and then start looking forward to a wedding. Once we know where we will be living, we will move there, and I will either continue to work, or continue my education, but it really comes down to what we can afford at the time. I will continue my education at some point though. The part of this whole situation that is really exciting to me is that I have no idea where I am going to be in a little over a year from now. My life is going to be very different, and taking place somewhere I have never been. That’s all I got for you now. Adios Amigos!

Software Training

2006-12-15T10:34:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I went through the online STS class for PowerPoint 2003. The reason I chose this class was because I was nearly done with the course so Dreamweaver courses were no longer necessary, and I had never used PowerPoint before. I did the introductory part of the course which was very helpful. It covered things such as how to use basic tools such as using already designed templates and color schemes as well as autocontent which the computer has already saved to help save time. The class was very effective as well because it had quizzes as you went along to make sure you were catching on to important concepts. I can now design a basic presentation for any occasion. NICE!

I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman.

2006-11-17T11:20:00.000-06:00

Duff book of records: Springfield is now the fattest city in the U.S.
Homer: Woo Hoo. In your face Milwaukee.

Just something funny before I start whining. Anyway, through reading other blogs from fellow students of mine, there seems to be a common theme…everybody is extremely strapped and stressed out. I personally have been going through the week from hell. My gas tank is pretty much empty. I have an insane amount of homework due all the way through next Wednesday, and not near enough time to actually complete it. To top it off, we have a draft for our 10 page rhetorical criticism due next Monday, and I haven’t been able to start it yet. I figure I’ll get to it this weekend along with studying for my two exams I have next week. I’ve been averaging between 3 and 5 hours of sleep a night for the past 5 nights, and going non stop from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep, as well as only squeezing in one meal a day. This kind of lifestyle is insane, and I can’t wait until thanksgiving break. I have never had a semester as rough as this one, but ironically I am doing much better so far than any other semester. This kind of upsets me because I realize now the only reason for not having nearly perfect grades is due to laziness and procrastination…damn you facebook! All I want more than anything in the world is to do something I really enjoy, and something that I WANT to do. I am sure anybody reading this is going through the same type of situation, and so I’m not asking for your sympathy by any means, and this blog probably seems like a reflection of your own mind at this time. And this blog is all I really have time for right now. Maybe this weekend I will get a more uplifting and exciting one in. PACE!

Homer: How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?

For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

2006-11-13T11:42:00.000-06:00

Last week we watched the film, Lost In Translation, which goes along with our class discussion on works by Jameson and Auge. In my discussion of the following movie I am going to focus more on the work of Auge since his writing made a little more sense to me, and seemed to go along with the film slightly better.

Anyway, to start off, I would like to touch on what exactly Marc Auge’s writing, “From Places to Non-Places”, was about. He deals with the idea of the postmodern place and non-place. He defines the two with a place as “being historical and relational, with personal significance for the people experiencing it. Places are highly concerned with identity and meaning. A non-place, by that definition, would then be devoid of significance where people do not connect or feel any attachment” (Auge 77-78). To put this into perspective, the world we are living in is moving at a faster and faster pace and as people move through their daily lives, they tend to pull away from social interactions. The accelerated rate of technology helps this trend along with things like ipods because so many people have them in at all times that less and less people talk to one another. Therefore, they start to simply glide through their days more as observers instead of doers. This leads to people not finding any personal significance in their activities and moving into a state of non-place. While in the non-place, people can begin to feel lost and lonely even when surrounded by millions of people. This is the idea that Lost In Translation, touches on.

In the film, the characters Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte, end up in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo is a huge city with millions of people, and a very flashy social scene. However, Bob and Charlotte are in a world they don’t understand. They are totally surrounded by a place which has a language they can’t speak or comprehend, as well as a new and very different culture. Bob and Charlotte begin to look at the Japanese people more as objects than as actual people because they cannot actually interact with them. This is what causes them to feel very lonely and completely lost. The ironic issue that arises then, is that the more people they are surrounded by, the more isolated and misplaced they feel. Both characters become stuck in a non-place. However, when Bob and Charlotte meet, they are able to talk to one another and actually have a conversation. In turn, when they are together, the places they go in Tokyo begin to have some significant meaning and change to a state of place, and they do not feel quite as lost as when they were alone.

An idea I have been considering is what happens when Bob goes back home after the movie concludes. Using what I know about place versus non-place, I feel that Bob is actually going to feel lost at times when he is back home with his family. The reason I think this is because while he was stuck in the non-place in Tokyo, he was really able to reflect on his own life and realize how unhappy he was. Then when he met Charlotte, he was able to find significance in his every day life. Therefore, when he gets back home to his wife and kids who he has really lost touch with, he is going to feel lost and lonely again until he finds a way to relate to them again. Just a quick idea for thought that's all.lost in translation

where's the tooth fairy when i need her?

2006-11-10T11:53:00.000-06:00

So what’s been going on with me lately? Well, to start, last Friday (November 3) I had one of my wisdom teeth removed. Now, I know you are wondering why only one of them was removed. The answer is simple. My dentist decided that my mouth would be just fine with my wisdom teeth in. Apparently I have a big mouth….well not really, but it is big enough for 4 extra teeth. Anyhow, after the first tooth had fully grown out, I realized that it was almost impossible to clean behind, and I was probably going to get some cavities or something….not good. So I went back to the dentist and we decided to simply extract them one by one as they came out. Sounds easy enough right? Well after having the first tooth pulled last week, I realized I really did not want to go through this 3 more times. I guess the procedure wasn’t that bad because the dentist gave me the gas before hand which caused me to tell my dentist he had a cute smile, which was good because he’s a dentist. Anyway, I called my dad and we decided that I should have them all taken out at once (I am covered under his insurance, and he’ll pay the bill) so I now have another appointment with an oral surgeon because of the three remaining wisdom teeth, 2 of them are still impacted. I’m really getting sick of the whole teeth thing and I really want it to be over. However, I now wished I would have pursued my original path in college of becoming a dentist. They make so much money for such little work it is unbelievable. Don’t get me wrong…there are many procedures which require great skill and sometimes hard work, but for the average dentist appointment for something like a cavity or a tooth extraction, they get paid mucho bucks! But no, I changed my major, and now I am going to graduate one year later, and make less money….hmmmm.

That’s really all for now…anybody who wants to share their wisdom teeth horror stories feel free. I’d love to hear them.
P.S. If John Stocco does not play against Iowa and we lose to them for the 4th consecutive time since I’ve been in college, I am going to be soooooo pissed off. Ok, that’s all.

I'm off to a non-place...i guess

2006-11-06T12:03:00.000-06:00

Wow…it’s been a while! Anyway, the material we covered in last weeks discussions was a little difficult to wrap my mind around. However, as we moved through discussion a few ideas became a little clearer. I had a lot of trouble with the Jameson writing The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. One of the important points I got from the Jameson critique was that he did not like how with post-modern art, a spectator has to go directly to the artist and ask them what the meaning is behind their work. For example, he brings up “A Pair of Boots” by Van Gogh, and “Diamond Dust Shoes” by Andy Warhol. He makes the claim that a person can start to grab a hold of the meaning and content encompassed within the boots painting, however when one looks at the painting by Warhol, it is very hard to understand what the painting means because it has become decontextualized (I don’t know if that’s a real word). Jameson really does not like that artists are putting work out there that to him has a hidden meaning. However, I don’t like his critique because I think a lot of artists have an idea of what they are going for, but a lot of their reasons for the work are to see what other people’s responses are. I think that is a great idea because everybody has different background they come from and therefore are going to have different views on the art they view. On page 10 of his writing, Jameson says, “…a third feature to be developed here, what I will call the waning affect in postmodern culture. Of course, it would be inaccurate to suggest that all affect, all feeling or emotion, all subjectivity, has vanished from the newer image”. So at least Jameson does recognize there is some meaning behind the Warhol painting, but he feels it is not as obvious.

The piece written by Auge was a little bit easier to understand From Places to Non-Places. The idea I was able to grab a hold of is what makes somewhere a “place” is when a person has interaction there. In class we brought up the example of a supermarket, which for most people would be considered a non-place. The reason for this is because for most people, they go into the supermarket, get their things and get out. The supermarket does not really have a lasting affect on a persons day after they have left. However, if somebody were to bump into you with their cart, and you confront them, and begin conversing, then you maybe have crossed over from non-place to place. Different people can be in different states. A shopper may be in a non-place, however a person who works at the supermarket may view it as a place because they will be interacting with people there often. I thought this was funny because I realized that I am the annoying person who often drags a person from the non-place to the place state at the grocery store by asking them some annoying question as to what they are purchasing or something like that. I apologize if this analysis didn’t really make sense to anybody, and I will try to fix it up a little bit. That’s all for now. Adios!

Party on Dudes!

2006-10-27T01:39:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s been a while since the last blog. Probably not a good thing, but I’ll get this baby caught up. Anyway, I just finished my personal webpage for the class. I’m pretty pumped about this one. I have put a lot of time into this site so I am hoping it turns out pretty well. Other than that, I am pretty excited for this coming weekend. As most of you know it is Halloween. However, I don’t really care at all about the whole state street thing. I used to love heading down to State Street just to check out all the creative costumes. However, now I don’t really know what I think about the whole situation. The first part I don’t like about the giant State Street bash is all the meat heads who come from out of town and their only intention is being involved/starting the annual bullshit riot. That crap really pisses me right off. The second part I don’t like is how the city is handling the whole situation. It makes me feel like a pig in a pen. I understand that it has come down to that because of all the previous crap that has gone on in the past. I look at it like a nasty cycle though. The tighter the cops squeeze down on the crowds, the rowdier they are going to get. They have to remember, they aren’t dealing with regular sane people. They are dealing with crazy drunk people behind masks who for the most part are looking for a good time, but if they are pushed in the wrong direction, bad things happen. Anyway, enough with that…I’m sure I’ll have a good time anyway this weekend.

The thing I am most excited about is the hockey game on Saturday. I have a ticket to the Wisconsin vs. Boston College hockey game. I think it is going to be absolutely nuts. I think it will be sweet too because a lot of people are going to be dressed up for Halloween at the game. The other part I am looking forward to is that we are playing Boston College. I HATE BOSTON COLLEGE!!!! They are like the even more stuck up and asinine version of Notre Dame. I really hope that Wisconsin beats the tar out of them, and maybe if we’re lucky, their mascot will get run over by the zamboni. Alright, now I’m just getting ridiculous, but maybe now you get an idea for how much I dislike Boston College. That’s really all I have for now. I hope all of you enjoy the Halloween weekend here in madtown, and blog about it later.

p.s. post pics of costumes and stuff. Alright later dudes!

Catfish and the Cold Air

2006-10-15T21:41:00.000-05:00

So my birthday turned out to be rather enjoyable after all. Even though my actual birthday was overshadowed by exams early in the week, my friends and I managed to make up for it this weekend. The exams I had turned out well for the most part. I would have liked to do a little better on one of them, but I’ll make up for it on the next one. My birthday festivities began with a very excellent dinner with Gina (my girlfriend). We went to Eldorado Grill on Willy Street. I highly recommend this restaurant to anybody that enjoys Southwest and Mexican cuisine. The restaurant chef has really put some amazing dishes together. It is a little pricey for the average college budget, but definitely worth a try. For the two meals, an appetizer, and a couple drinks, the total was just over $60. If you are a tequila person, then this is a great place to go. They have lots of very fine tequilas ranging from $3 a shot up to $30 (insane). I didn’t get any of them this time, but I did get a chocolate margarita, and it was very tasty. For dinner I got the blue corn crusted catfish, and it was amazing! It was really nice to finally spend a nice night with Gina because lately we are so busy all the time that we really don’t see much of each other.

On another note, we just turned on the heat in our house. We finally gave in, and fired the old furnace up. I am not happy about it because it makes a huge difference on the electric bill. Usually we can fight the cold off until about early to mid November. However, I have spent the last 5 nights in a row or so, sleeping in a house that ranges from 40-55 degrees. Sleeping wasn’t really the biggest problem because I could put lots of blankets on my bed. The real problem was in the morning when I had to shower. I was really getting sick of the intense muscle spasms I was having immediately after getting out the shower from shivering so much. My roommates and I decided that for our general health and sanity, that we needed to turn the heat on. Now, guess what. The rest of our house is being maintained at about 65 degrees or so, except my room. Of course, my room has to be at least 80 degrees currently. I can’t catch a break, but at least I will be able to get out of the shower and dry off normally without chipping my teeth from chattering so much.

Well that’s all for now

Derek ------> Kevin Bacon?

2006-10-09T13:21:00.000-05:00

So I’m going to start this post off by saying that I’m a little frustrated today. It is my birthday (woop woop!), but due to exams, I am not able to celebrate accordingly. I have an exam this afternoon, and then another exam tomorrow. However, my roommates and I are having 2 parties this week (Thursday & Saturday), because all of our birthdays are very close (October 4,9,10,16). This time of year gets pretty ridiculous, and GPA points tend to drop slightly. Anybody in my 201 section is welcome to come, just ask me about it in class if you are interested.

Anyway, enough about that, and on to the important stuff. What did we talk about last week in discussion? Well, we talked about a lot actually. My favorite part of the discussion was talking about Duncan Watts and his writing called Six Degrees. For those of you not familiar with “six degrees”, it is in reference to the idea that any person is linked to any other person through six people or less. That idea is pretty crazy to think about, but very cool also. Anyway, Watts starts out his discussion by explaining networks in a way that most of us already understand. His biggest example is the power grid, and how it is linked. Most everybody in our country has electricity, and doesn’t think twice about it. We definitely take it for granted, but if you really stop to think about it, the electric power companies are huge networks of cables and power sources that link to all of our houses and buildings, and if a power outage like the one Watts describes occurs, there can be mass panic. An important idea I got from this is that people often over look the interdependencies in a network because they are made of many different components. As Watts put it, “The trouble with systems like the power grid is that they are built up of many components whose individual behavior, like that of football crowds and stock market investors, can be sometimes orderly and sometimes chaotic…”(pg. 23). In class we brough up the example of Madison, and the big Halloween celebration. Currently, the city feels they have an idea of how the Halloween crowd will act simply by looking at the group as one, but they are failing to recognize that there are 80,000 people who make up this group, and it is nearly impossible to predict their actions.

In Suzy’s discussion we talked about how power in networks work. For example, our 201 section is a network in a way, and we all feed off of one another for ideas and discussion topics. However, if somebody in our class who maybe tends to talk a lot or is a “load bearer” is gone, other people in the network need to pick up the slack to keep the network functioning. Now back to the power lines. If a load bearing part of the power grid crashes, the rest of the network has to pick up the power and take it somewhere, and if this fails, the network crashes and you end up with a big power outage. The same could happen in class. If the load bearer is gone, and nobody picks up the slack, our discussion could suffer a huge malfunction, and we all sit there in silence. I am really trying to make a big deal out of a pretty boring example if you haven’t noticed. I hope I am making sense.

And now, a little bit more on the six degrees. My question for everybody else is, how many times have you met somebody that knows somebody you know, and then said to yourself, “wow, it’s a small world”? Well, this is why the six degrees of separation is so cool, mostly because most of us link it to Kevin Bacon. It makes this huge planet we live on seem a lot smaller. Watts says the reason this happens is because “Each person has a circle of acquaintances – network neighbors – who in turn have acquaintances, and so on, forming a global interlocking pattern of friendship, business, family, and community ties through which paths could be traced between any random person and any other” (pg. 37). The amount of people you can reach grows exponentially with each additional person you go through. This sort of thing happens all the time. To think that through 6 people, you can link to billions of people is mind blowing.

Mr. Clinton...boxers of briefs?

2006-10-03T22:06:00.000-05:00

Last week during discussion, class was definitely more exciting than before. We were able to talk a little bit more about topics that people were able to put their minds around. The first reading I am going to refer to is done by Carolyn R. Miller and Dawn Shepherd and it is titled Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog. Now, first and foremost, my printer ran out of ink while printing the 18 pages needed to copy the entire document so I was only able to read up until about Pg. 6, and gather parts of pages 7-11 or so. This document was rather long, so I will sum up what I think the main point was. Miller and Shepherd are trying to lay out exactly what caused weblogs to come about, and the genre in which they formed. For example, in the 1990’s there was a shift in the country from peoples’ lives being private, to being very public. This was very evident with the uprising of the Real World series and other reality television programs. Well, with weblogs, people are able voyeuristic, exhibitionists, or both. Some people love to read what other people are doing in life, while other people enjoy posting their own stories.

In class, Sara brought up the point that blogging can be more intimate because some people are willing to write things that they normally wouldn’t say out loud to the public because they don’t have to face the people whom they are actually speaking to. I think this is a great point, and that a lot of people are able to come out of their shells because of weblogs and they are not confined by their social ties. Some people have a sense of freedom when they are online because they can express the person who is really inside.

Mike also brought up a great point as to maybe why blogs came around, and from what I got out of it, he was saying that due to the rapid integration of technology into our society, people are becoming increasingly more isolated. For example, people at the bus stops can’t talk amongst one another because of the ipods in their ears. Therefore, they turn to another form of technology, the computer, and blogs for social interaction. I apologize to Mike if this is not really what he was getting at.

There is so much more to this article, but you can read it for yourself because I don’t have time to sit here and discuss every detail. I also wanted to say quick that I have checked out most of the classes webpages, and they are pretty sweet.

Big Loser

2006-09-29T02:01:00.000-05:00

So a funny story quick. The other day I was riding my bike home from class and as I got to Regent street, I came across an elderly gentleman in a nice lookin' motorized wheelchair. He commented that he liked my bike, it was, "sharp". The he proceeded to tell me that his set of wheels was brand new too. I concurred, and we went into a short conversation. At the end of our little chat, the old man asked me where I was heading, and I told him that I lived on Vilas, so only about 4 blocks. Then he challenged me to a race from there to Vilas...mano y mano...his electric wheels against my "sharp" wheels. I accepted since I had nothing better to do with my time. Well we lined up at the intersection of Bowen Ct. and Orchard, and we took off on his count. I got out to an early lead, and then slowed myself down because I didn't want to be an ass and blow his wheel chair away by about 2 blocks. When I got back next to him, he got a grin on his face, grabbed his little shifter knob, and took off as if he had jets on the back. His little wheelchair was going about 35 down Orchard, and he never even stopped at the stop signs at Mound st....blew right threw there. Needless to say I lost a race to an 80 year old man in a wheel chair...he pulled a fast one on me, and I am a big loser. A quick sidenote, I am asking Santa for an electric wheelchair for Christmas this year.

Blog #5 How "cool" is this blog?

2006-09-29T01:57:00.000-05:00

So I committed the ultimate rookie blogger mistake and didn’t write my blog for Monday on Word first and then paste it to the blog, and for some reason my blog did not publish so here I go again, writing it all over again, which sucks for two reasons. One, it is almost a week late, and two, I have to write the whole damn thing over again. So here it goes…

Last week in class we had the chance to go through Lexia to Perplexia, and I did not really understand it at all. I’m finding this is becoming a common theme for me. I probably didn’t understand the website much because I simply got caught up in the clicking and linking, and eventually I was only clicking to see what came up next instead of reading things. Eventually, I got the point where all I was doing was clicking to see how long this site would continue…it goes a while.

Anyway, now to some stuff that did make a little bit of sense to me. The whole idea of cool and what cool is exactly. In Jeff Rice’s book Writing About Cool, he tries to link things that we relate with cool such as hip-hop or Nike shoe commercials with cool in writing. The part I found most interesting was that Rice tries to explain to us that we need to “learn how cool has been transformed from a personality trait into an electronic writing strategy…” (pg.12). The area where this made the most sense to me was when he was explaining how websites have taken these ideas of what we find cool and using it to make money. Then he moved on to how this has changed cool from what was once viewed as somebody like James Dean who was rebellious teenager trying to go against the system, are now being used rhetorically against consumers. However, I would argue against him and say that James Dean’s appearance was used to sell the film industry, so Jeff Rice has to be careful with that subject.
Other than that, I think class really took off last week, and people are really starting to open up in class and share their thoughts. It isn’t always easy as some of us don’t really understand the readings until Scot explains what we were supposed to get out of it. I do have to say I definitely enjoy being in this section of English 201 rather than any other one though. I feel we are learning a lot of useful relevant information, not that we wouldn’t in another 201 section, but most of us have already learned how to write long papers, and not many of us have designed a webpage or been really involved with blogging. That’s all she wrote…

Exploration Time

2006-09-22T11:45:00.000-05:00

Well, last night my roommates and I decided to go exploring through our house that we moved into this year. Our house is much bigger than our old place, and there is a lot of unused space. To give an example of the size, we have two living rooms, and seven couches between the two. There is also room for a dining room table in one living room. Anyway, even more exciting is the basement. It is like a maze down there. The first day we moved into our place, the fuse for the lights in the basement blew, and we haven’t been down there since. That was, until yesterday. We went down to check out this large maze, and stumbled across these large book shelves against a wall. My roommate and I moved the book shelves aside, and found a secret room. Pretty sweet, eh? Well, it gets better. We opened up the door, and it was loaded with old stuff. The sweetest part was all the old books. Boxes upon boxes of old books, which is pretty sweet because we’re making a library in one of the living rooms because there are some built in book shelves. When I was going through the books I came across some books that are relevant to this course. One book was a 1964 copy of Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media, which contains the two articles we read in class, and the other book is a 1966 copy of Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Message. I thought that was pretty cool because whoever lived in our house during the 60’s had some reason to read those books. I am guessing whoever it was, was probably a really big nerd though. I’m going to end on that note. Later dudes!!!

A Little Rhetoric for the Soul

2006-09-19T23:48:00.000-05:00

Thanks to James Herrick, this past week I have caught myself looking into so many different places of our lives and wondering if rhetoric was relevant in that situation. The biggest reason this came about is because Herrick raised the idea that rhetoric isn’t simply a speaking art form used in politics, but it is very pervasive in our own everyday social and private lives. He gives the example of rhetoric being used to pick up a date. According to Herrick, this would be rhetoric because somebody is trying to persuade another person that they are attractive, and the other person should go out with them. Now, I guess I can agree with that unless the person is like me, and isn’t so great in those kinds of situations, in which case, rhetoric and persuasion are out the window. Overall, I liked reading Herrick because he laid everything out very nicely as to how rhetoric actually works. I didn’t see this all right away, but after plenty of class discussion, it is starting to make sense.

This other guy, Marshall McLuhan on the other hand. I did not enjoy reading this at all. He tries to write about how “The Medium is the Message” (Pg. 23). Even after a lot of discussion this still did not really make much sense to me. The ideas are very abstract, and the way he writes about it doesn’t make it any easier. The only thing I really got out of what McLuhan was trying to say in this article was that when you look at medium vs. content in terms of a message, the medium is really what matters. For example, if you read a story in a book, and then watch the movie, the content of the two are pretty much the same, but they might seem very different because the media are different. This is the only way I can really see where the medium is the message. I apologize if this is not what he really meant, as I said before, this really did not make much sense to me. The second article we read by McLuhan got even better. In this article McLuhan started talking about hot vs. cold media. This article made me laugh. A hot medium is one that is low in participation (TV), and a cool medium is high in participation (telephone). However, he gave a lot of labels to arbitrary things, and this bothered me because in almost every case you could argue against the label he had designated. Then to top it off, instead of going into detail as to why he labeled the way he did, he decided to give all kinds of garbage like Shakespeare quotes. Not that Shakespeare is garbage, I love Shakespeare, but rather McLuhan’s use of Shakespeare and others is garbage.

useless info i guess

2006-09-15T11:40:00.000-05:00

I would like to start off this blurb by making a correction in regards to my previous blog about rhetoric. I posted that blog before the class really discussed the readings. If you didn’t read the blog, I basically said that I felt rhetoric was very loosely defined, and that rhetoric is how we communicate. Well, that is sort of true, but not all the way. We use rhetoric very often in communication, but rhetoric is not simply communication. From what I have gathered in class and in readings, rhetoric is a very fine art form people use to persuade somebody else to see things a new way. There is much more to this, but I don’t feel like babbling on about class related topics this time.

The thing I most want to talk about, or complain about, is that Wednesday on my way to English class I was pulled over on my bike and given a citation. The citation was for riding my bike through a crosswalk. I don’t even think that is illegal, and if it is, I don’t believe it warrants the $135.60 fine that went along with it. The police officer informed me that I can attend a three hour bicycle safety course, and they will void out my ticket. Needless to say, I am not really looking forward to a course that I took when I was 5 years old and just got rid of training wheels. Well, I feel better now that I vented. I would just like to throw some advice out to any bike riders that may be reading this, and that is don’t perform the horrendous crime of riding your bike through crosswalks if there is a cop on the other side of the road waiting for you. Why didn’t anybody teach me that? If you need a small refresher, Wikipedia has some great bicycle safety tips for you hot rodders out there.

P.S. If any of you haven’t read The Onion yet, I recommend the clip on Bush’s “New Anti-Terrorism Strategy”. I found it to be hilarious. Alright then, adios!

Writing: Blog #1 (Rhetoric)

2006-09-11T11:25:00.000-05:00

Rhetoric has been a word that I have heard many times over in my college career, but I never stopped to think about what it really meant. It is hard for me to define exactly how I would have described rhetoric since I didn't really understand what it was to begin with. However, I will try my best to get the idea across. When I heard the word rhetoric, I originally thought of fancy language used by ancient philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, as well as old poetry and prose. Now that I have read part of Herrick's work on rhetoric, I have a completely new understanding of what rhetoric really is. From what I have gathered, rhetoric has a pretty loose definition, and is really more in the eye of the beholder. The main idea I got through the writing though was that rhetoric is basically the language or means we use to communicate with one another. Whether it be on the computer, an in person conversation, or a novel, all of these things are contained in the world of rhetoric. My original thoughts on rhetoric are not completely wrong, but I have found out that rhetoric is not a thing of the past, but very much still alive now.

so here's the deal

2006-09-08T12:53:00.000-05:00

Well, this is officially the first blog I have ever hosted. I am a little excited about it since it is new to me. The main reason behind this blog is that I am currently enrolled in an English class where we are learning about Rhetorics of Network Culture, and this is one of the requirements for the course. Pretty crazy huh?! I think it is pretty sweet because I was under the assumption that this was going to be a lame class where we just wrote long papers all the time, but that's not the case at all. I feel that this blog is going to become another addiction along with my severe Facebook addiction, but at least this time I can blame it on the class. Well, that's all I have for now. adios