that other guy’s thoughts

in the interest of your interest and my curiosity, I poured through the archives to find the best and brightest posts of 2003, enjoy!

The year started off with some rehashing of old ideas. This seemed to be a theme as my posting tendencies continued from the previous year. I picked some ponies, and had the roof of the technology dome fall on me. Rounding out the first month of the year, this were riding high with “The Girl”.

Columbia ate plasma in the upper atmosphere, and I officially decided going into Iraq was the right thing to do. Then the emotional daisy cutter hit and TOG no longer had “the girl”. Thus February was designated the month of seclusion. Mr. Rogers died and the new plan for the World Trade Center site was announced.

Looking back, I’ve descovered that March was just a lot of fun, a lot of fun and Iraq stuff, that’s it. April was relatively uneventful as well, my first love fell to the likes of a diaper dandy. Then Roy went and Bill came. I reminded viewers that I hated them, and commented on my whipping boy, the BBC

May was my month of good ideas. I discovered the right course of action (with some help). And then I nearly discovered the meaning of life. I wrapped up the spring semester, and found my real problem with the media. I capped off the month with an essay on the healthcare system.

I initially pondered a move from blog*spot. Slamm’n Sammy wasn’t slamm’n so Sammy slammed some floaties into his whooping stick and got slammed for it. My future passed before me. The world decided that we were fat, and I decided that I don’t care. The e-storm clouds were gathering, and TOG moved to his own top-level domain. Strom Thermond kicked the bucket, and I chronicled the NBA Draft. Top it all off with a batch of insomia and you’ve just relived my June.

July kicked off with Wamego in the news, and my un-web savvyness showed through in fine style. I educated you all on the ways to celebrate Independence Day, and tried to shed some light on the struggle for Iranian freedom. I continued my aural love affair, saved a ornithological friend, continued to harp about news that wasn’t, and left my teenage years.

August was transitional times. I started compiling a list of 100 things to do before I die, which I still haven’t finished. I got back to my geeky roots, and started the fall semester. I joined the cast of MDFP, and hilarity ensued. I ended the month on a positive note, by educating the masses on the phenomenon of butt heat.

September brought a reality check of what exactly it takes to be an aerospace engineer. And were all reminded of what exactly we are facing. We lost Johnny Cash, and I nearly lost the will to live. But hope remained and I learned to love again

October started off right, birthday style. But my beloved braves took it in the chin and made an early postseason exit. But I still had fun with miniluv’s positive blogging week. My academic life showed some…umm…life. Baseball justice was done when the Yankees lost the World Series. The economy turned out okay, and my professors found a new way to tick me off.

November was really just a series of continuing themes. School still sucked. Hippies were dumb. I discovered that the BBC was crappy 70 years ago. And as always, The Matrix ruled

December was…well…I don’t really know. But we all learned something I’m sure. I learned of my possible future unemployment, and my ideal future employer. You all learned why libertarians are the way we are, and that it’s not so bad after all. And I tried to educate you all on the ways of flight. And we all learned that the Lord of the Rings is quite possibly the most awesome thing in recorded history.

so there you have it, the abridged works of TOG’s 2003 season

Here’s to hope and a glorious 2004.

UPDATE: Links are fixed, I sucked it up the first time.

It is now the 31st of December, as you are well aware do to the nicely large text above this post. Aside from being the last day of the year, it’s also been a full week since grades from my professors were due to the university offices. So taking all the preceding as fact, take a wild guess at whose full grades are not yet available to him, despite finishing his finals in said classes a full two weeks ago?

There is a down side to hating people you know. The holidays aren’t much fun.

Having a holiday is nice, the actually act of observing a holiday is cool, but “the holidays” as an entity are crappy. Because you see, the only difference between “a holiday” and “the holidays” is the preferential social smattering that seem to surround my beloved times of joy.

The greatest part of “the holidays” is supposed to be gathering with your family and friends to enjoy each other’s company. Well, when you hate people that pretty much rules out the friends part, and chances are if you hate people, you tend to find your family a wee bit annoying, so that really no fun. So your joy time has now been reduced from the essence of human experience normally packaged to a perfectly normal holiday, to observing traditions of that said holiday. And really, wouldn’t it make more sense if “the holidays” were actually about the holidays, instead of the social foolery that we associate them with now.

If friends and family were really that important, and you enjoyed their company so much, couldn’t you meet with them on a bi-annual basis, alternating weekends, or just some obscure week in June when the weather is nicer and nobody has a cold, the flu, or sparring with the bubonic plague? Why must we all gather in the bleak of winter braving the treacherous roads of ice to subject our 20-year-old college students to the same round of questions from 9,000 different people about their life. Yes, college life is fine, Yes, I like home-cooked meals, No I don’t keep in touch with all my high school buddies, I didn’t keep in touch with them in high school so why start now? Why must you ask these things? Idle chatter is the bane of my existence, every time I hear I have to physically restrain my self from punching someone in their fugly face.

And really when you get right down to it, that’s all “the holidays” are, an excuse for random idle chatter.

The website has been down for a few hours over the last week or so courtesy of host retardation. And there is nothing quite like having the most awesomest thing to post, and then not being able to do it. Anyway I’m not likely to care until significantly after Christmas.

So Mote It Be!

I’m horrible with dates, I can’t remember them for the life of me. This of course is pertentent right now because Saturday was Kristi’s 23rd Birthday.

So sorry of the belated salutations Kiki, we here at TOG’s Thoughts pour a cold non-alcoholic one out for you with our 20-year old hands. Enjoy!

Apparently, unbeknownst to anyone else in the history of man kind, stress weakens resistance to illness. Someone should alarm the school of engieering, for they would surely never knowingly jeopardize the health of it’s students.

editor note: yes the article is about AIDS, but think about it. Its common knowledge that stress can make you sick with the little just, so take the next logical step and imagine how bad it couldn screw you over with AIDS (pun most definately intended).

I just spent the entire day watching all three Lord of the Rings movies, the first two extended editions on DVD, and the third in theater (approx. 12 straight hours). And after some reflection I’ve come up with a simple 3-word sentence that most aptly describes them.

Best. Series. Ever.

Better than Matrix, better than your beloved Star Wars, and yes even better than Godfather. Return of the King is the best of the three, easy, and Two Towers was by favorite movie of the last 5 years. Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Tolkien’s vision is better than anyone could have possibly expected. If ROTK doesn’t win the best picture Oscar, it’d be borderline blasphemy. Jackson should win too, he managed to convert what is most likely the most read, complicated, story ever written into a theatrical masterpiece nearly universally loved. Basically, what I’m just trying to say is, “Damn, that thing was good”

This Day in History:

courtesy of the Onion

I had originally planned to have Europe’s famous song blaring in your ears right now, but because I’m inherently lazy you’ll have to just imagine. 4 out of 5 finals lay in the gutter; one still looms large, from the original ODB, Dr. Roskam.

This is the last test he will ever give, so I can imagine him wallowing in the bastion of hate in preparation for the academic plunder he will disperse upon his peons, surely this signals the end of days and the beginning of his 10,000-year reign over the pantheons of Aerospace. The sea will run red with the ink from his discarded grading pens. All who do not submit will be stricken down with the sword of double book keeping, and the axe of no partial credit.

Death may befall me, but sleep will not.