I am registered for classes.. I now have a student ID from a University that actually resembles
me..Until today my most current student ID was from NC Stateback in1997..Complete with normal length hair, and a chin strap
beard.. I just spent 350 bucks on books.. I forgot how much books cost.. Thats only for 6 credit hours too.. Geezz.. So in 3 years if all goes as planned
I will have a shiny new dilpoma that I may actually put on the wall.. My one from state is still in the original envelope it was mailed to me in.. I think
diplomas look better when the aren’t alone..
All I have left to do is activate my uncg.edu internet accounts and i’ll be ready for the fall..
I did learn something very important from my advisor.. If you like Indian food the best place to get authentic Indian food in Greensboro is Cary.. Yeah
you heard me right.. Udupi is where she goes when she wants a taste of real indian food.. I did get a line on some good Thai places that aren’t 90 miles
away in Cary though.. We will see if they can stack up to Thai Villa or Sawasdee..
I need to preface this blog with the fact that most music that is on the radio these days (With the
exception of KNC at least in the triangle) is pretty much garbage..
For some reason Hip Hop has fallen to a level that is amazingly below what was
ever distinguishable as music.. Every other time I log out of myspace I get this jamster ad..
It includes such amazing (musiclly as asll we lyrically) tracks as “Lil Jon – Snap
Yo Fingas”, and “Chamillionare – Ridin’ Dirty”.. I don’t understand what it takes to get signed on a fucking label and make millions.. I mean come on
now.. Lets examine these lyrics..
“Snap Yo Fingas.. [Uninteligible garbage].. You can do it all by yo’ self..”
Yeah.. I mean what the fuck..
And the “music” that goes with it is quite amazing..
That ridin’ dirty song is terrible I heard it on 2 stations at the same time driving home,
probably why I decided to rant about this.. Whatever happened to decent hip hop? Pharcyde, Tribe, KRS-One, I mean come on now.. Is
coming up with decent lyrics that tell a story or something interesing that challenging? I mean is there anything to life other than talkin about
how hard you are compared to your competition..
50 Cent rolls with a fuckin’
casio rapmaster talking about who knows what about how hes some other rapers are “wankstas”.. I mean come on now.. Yeah maybe I had my ghetto pass taken
away a long ass time ago when I left West Charlotte, but I mean what gives.. One day my ears were assaulted by this song that took “screwed and chopped”
to a new level.. Some dude kept saying “Every day i’m hustlin’” and it was just looped over and over again.. WOW! That must have taken months to
come up with.. What amazing life story inspired you to come up with those lyrics.. I guess they are lyrics.. Does 4 words count? I guess “Snap yo’
Fingers” is 3 so yeah..
This has been going on for quite some time now.. Master P made an entire song about the grunts he makes while taking a
crap.. More like taking a shit on all hip hop in general..
I guess I should know better than to flip by G105 and K97.5 when driving home
expecting to hear anything other than trite garbage.. Ugghh…
So Friday night I go to Greensboro to meet up with Sheila, have dinner go out, etc.. Saturday Sheila
and I are wandering around her neighborhood.. I had been wondering where in the hell I am going to live in Greensboro.. I had originally just assumed I
wouldn’t buy anything and just rent for a bit.. I had pretty much decided that I was only going to get an apartment which would mean I will end having to
take most of my tools and other stuff in Charlotte to ditch with my rents.. So walking down Mendenhall after lunch and I see a crappily xeroxed sign in
the window of College Hill.. House for rent within a mile of UNCG.. 600 a month.. I give the guy a call, and much to my surprise I get the impression that
he is around my age.. He tells me where the house is, and that he is still making repairs on it, but can have place ready by maybe the 1st.. I hop in the
truck and drive across the railroad tracks and to the south side of Lee Street.. This entire neighborhood is pretty hood, but the houses are either
boarded up, or being fixed up.. I get pretty excited drive around, etc.. I do see some scary shit.. Kids sitting on porches doing absolutely nothing but
looking like they are just waiting to get into trouble.. The boarded up houses are a bit scary, but hey no biggie.. I lived on Everett where apparently
people broke into houses (never mine), but I did have a drug related murder a block away.. Never scared me away..
So I get back home.. The fixed
upper houses are selling for around 50k! I mean damn.. Is this my time to become the slum lord I have dreamed of? Most of the houses need some
work, and I would have to get a pretty large construction loan on top of that, but I mean damn.. Take whatever I get from dumping this place in Cary
(Gonna have it ready in a week I bet kids, so please be ready to re-post bulletins and what not to help me sell this place FSBO.. I might even a decent
cash reward to the friend who gets me the resulting sale.. Hint hint..).. I figure I could end up with a monhtly mortgage payment less than what i was
thinking for rent.. Man.. Can I become the semi-overlord of Greensboro and get a few rental properties? Make those fools pay for me to enjoy my
life.. I didn’t see bars on the windows so the area can’t be that bad.. Can it? I mean it looks up and coming.. As long as there are no PCP/Meth
labs next door (especially if they blow up) I will be OK with it..
Anyone.. Anyone.. I know south of Lee is a tad scary, but is that bad? I
am talking the area bound by Aycock on the west, Freeman Mill on the east, Florida on the South and Lee on the North..
Google Map of tha’ Hood
And yeah I am listening to Camp Lo – Luchini.. Heh.. When was the last time anyone heard that..
Ha!
in going to school and moving I didn’t even realize it had been over a year since I quit smoking (July
7th, 2005).. 12 or so years of killing myself, and 1 year of being tobacco free.. I don’t miss it, not even the slightest bit.. I am glad that I no longer
am a slave to those fuckers.. I still get shit in the mail from Camel.. Who cares.. I am free!! I am proud myself.. If i set my mind to something I
will make it happen.. So what if I was incoherent for 2 weeks going through the worst withdrawl I have ever experienced in my life? I made it
happen.. Yeah for me! The rest of you smokers who haven’t quit yet.. Think about it? What good does it REALLY do for you?
So Thursday I finally went out in Greensboro.. It wasn’t quite a complete
throwdown since I had to
be in Charlotte for a meeting Friday morning.. Sheila and I went to the bar on the end of Spring Garden and Mendenhall that I kept saying “Hey.. We gotta
go there.. It looks as crappy as Jackpot.. It might be our new watering hole.. “.. Its called College Hill.. Cool little place.. Jukebox.. Interesting
selections.. Ran into some folks who just made the same move from RDU -> GBO that I sorta had a hunch would appear if we went out in Greensboro.. Sheila
seemed more shocked than I was.. I think everyone had a good time that night, but I felt very hung over the next day.. I am going to blame the taps since
I don’t think we had more than 6 beers the entire night.. To make things worse I took a wrong turn leaving Greensboro that morning, didn’t hit the
Bojangles to hope to settle my belly.. I swore I would never stop at Rotten Ronnies again after the fat extravaganza on the want to Bonnaroo, but the one
in Thomasville had this thing called food I needed to desperatly.. I headed to Charlotte for a meeting for work, ran into a buddy from High School playing
basketball randomly when picking up a lime for my mom at the grocery store, snatched up my dad, and headed back to Cary..
I figured I could get
some slave labor out of my dad.. In fact I did.. I finally got the cabinet installed back in the master bath, ripped out the nasty carpet downstairs and
put in the least expensive (well second least expensive) laminate flooring downstairs.. Its not done, but it looks SOOO much better.. I wish I would have
put it down before.. Its going to make the house loose much of its Hospital or White on White on White theme that I despise so much.. I really think that
I will get some sort of return on the flooring.. After 2 days of enslavement I put my dad on (not in front of) the (2 hour late) Amtrak from NYC to
Charlotte..
Step one.. Remove old carpet, and remove nails.. Don’t you
love how the old contractors just used the floor for a paint staging area too? 
Laminate Underlayment.. This took much longer than expected.. I guess thats why the
stuff with underlayment started at around 2.00 a sq foot..
Where we left
it.. Of course I gotta finish the rest in the next few days..
I figure I am a week behind in getting my house ready to sell.. Good / Interesting
news.. The neighbors across the street are trying to sell their house that is almost the same as mine for a TON of money.. I doubt they will get it, but
if they come close.. Man.. All I gotta say is that if I could pull that kinda cash I am going on that trip to Austrailia..
Regardless getting this
place sold will finally close my chapter of life in Cary.. Seriously anyone know of anyone looking for a house? This is a great place for folks with
kids.. I will probabbly throw my house on Craigs list in a week or two whenever I get most of the major stuff taken care of.. If you know anyone send me a
message on here..
I got my letter today.. I got in..
I have about 25 days now to get my house spiffed up, sold,
packed, and moved for school.. Sheila and I are headin’ out west for 2 weeks just before school starts, so man I got a ton of stuff to do before then..
Know anyone who wants a house in Cary?
Hells yeah! I made it.. Time to pop the cork on the bubbly..
I figured after my last rant I needed a sane blog..
I got my GMAT score back weeks ago.. I
ended up getting a 570 (61st percentile) on the multiple guess part, and a 6/6 – Perfect score (94th percentile) on the essay portion.. At first I was a
bit disappointed, but Tori put it in perspective to me.. I only really studied for 2 weeks, during the second round of the NHL playoffs (so you know I was
distracted) and hadn’t see much of the material on the test in 10 years.. My application should be completed to UNCG today.. They can’t seem to find one
of my recomendation letters, but its being faxed again today.. My “Personal Statement/Essay” is a bit rambling, but its submitted and in.. Now all I can
do is wait.. Everyone I talk to seems to think I will get in.. I am a bit worried, but there is little I can do..
I have been to most of the
Hurricanes playoff games.. They are now 1 game away from winning the Stanley Cup.. Go Whalers/Canes.. Its quite an experience..
Its like in 2002
when they made it to the finals fun-wise, except this time they have a very good chance of winning.. I will say no more cause I don’t want to fuck with
the hockey gods..
The entire team with the Prince of Wales Trophy .. Whats cool about this is the Captain Rod
Brind’Amour brought over the whole team for the photo instead of just getting his picture taken.. I was there..
Tonight I am leaving for Bonnaroo..
I can’t wait.. Tom Petty.. Yeah!
So last week I made an appointment to take the GMAT today.. It cost $250.. No monopoly there.. I guess
part of the pre-screening for getting into Business school is if you can find some way to scrounge up $250.. Either you are poor but can hustle to get
$250 and means you have good business accumen, or you are doing OK financially which means you either are lucky and already rich so you will get invited
into the buddy system of large business or you already have learned to hustle and have good business accumen.. I think its a scam, and ought to be
regulated in some way.. The GRE is $130..
I am nervous; I got about an hour and half until the test starts.. It doesn’t help that it is all
computer based.. You migth think that coming from someone who isn’t intimidated by a computer in any way it seems odd, but I just can’t read on a computer
screen.. I took a practice test on my computer yesterday and most of the verbal portions I missed were so obvious when I went back and re-read the
quesiton.. Something about being able to read the text on a piece of paper, highlight and mark things down helps me sigificantly.. I guess kids in 10
years won’t be at such a disadvantage as most kids my age.. I mean sure we had a computer in every classroom.. I remember the broken Apple IIe in the
corner that when it worked you could play where in teh world is carmen sandiego.. Thats a far stretch from reading wordy paragraphs about the japanese
union system after WWII and answering critical reasoning questions.. There isn’t anything I can do about it other than stay focused..
That is
probbably why I am writing now.. It helps me to relax and focus.. I had a really odd dream last night that I had overslept for the test, and was wandering
through my parents neighborhood in Charlotte to the testing facility which was in south Charlotte.. It probbably would be 20 minutes by car, but for some
reason in the middle of the night I was roaming twoard the testing facility hoping they would make an exception for me showing up 12 hours late.. Then I
realized that it was jsut overcast, the clouds cleared away and I was greeted with a dark blood red sky.. Like a tornado sky or a weird electrical storm..
I can only imagine what that would be like.. My mom talked about the pink skies growing up in Pittsburgh cause of the polution from the steel mills.. When
I was up there 2 years ago I didn’t see that since it has been cleared up..
So I have written enough.. Tonight I am going to see the Hurricanes
play in game 2 against the Devils.. I had to pass on my ticket on Saturday so I could study, but I am going tonight.. Hopefully i will be in good sprits..
My original goal for the GMAT was 700, but that may be a bit crazy.. I am shooting for a 650 or higher.. Supposedly 680 will get my in anywhere.. It may
just be a number and test your ability on taking a the GMAT test, but it also determines part of my future so there will be no fucking around this time..
I will wax the floor with this test.. If you see me at Jackpot tonight drunk and happy you know I hit my goal..
I don’t need luck.. So I won’t
cross my fingers.. Luck in the end may run out, but instead I will rely on my abilities which are limitless… That may be arrogant but I know I can do
this..
Yesterday I went to the Beerfest in Raleigh.. Man O Man was it fun.. There is some haze as to some
events, and the stumble from Moore Square to Sheilas apartment.. Most amazingly is the fact that we kept drinking well sort of until sometime after 6..
Some Duvel in the walk through the park, then a pint with some kids and their dad from New Jersey or Charlotte.. I think the kid was going to UNCC and was
from Jersey, but its a bit fuzzy.. Then hobbling to Rockford for another pint and the always tasty ABC bean salad.. I don’t think much of the last pint
was consumed at the rock.. Man.. I barely recall walking home.. Passed out by 7 or 8, and thats all she wrote.. It was a great time, and I will have to
do one again in my life.. Sheila got a shirt that quotes Benjamin Franklin “Beer is living proof that god wants us all to be happy”.. I think I have to
say that beerfest is one of the greatest things in the world.. Not the first by any means, but it sure as hell is up there..
Before Beerfest I went
with Sheila to Greensboro, and she got a really bad ass apartment down there.. I am a tad jealous since she already is in school and can move pretty
easily.. Its not founded, and if I play my cards right I will be there in the fall.. I really cant’ wait, and I am a bit nervous of if I will get
accepted.. I just took the GMAT practice exam cold without any review and I got a 580 which I think is pretty average, not the score I was looking for..
Its been forever since I took a standardized test, so hopefully I will do a bit better next time with some review with the book.. I am going to get the
GMAT taken by May 15th I have decided..
I still need to do a ton of work on the house.. I sprayed more weeds today, and will try and get more
painting done.. Hopefully once I take the GMAT everything will start to fall into place.. I think I am going to have to start having a bit less fun and
“buckle down” if I am goign to make all this happen..
Well the Sabres and Flyers are on in HD so I suppose I will watch that for a bit of a break,
and then get back to it.. Hopefully the Hurricanes win tonight.. Going to the game.. Sorta wish I didn’t have so much going on cause the playoff games
almsot seem like a hinderence more than something fun..
Anyway so in summary.. Beerfest is awesome, and should be experienced by all.. Bonnaroo
will be here before I know it, Sheila will be moved, and I better get my application stuff in..
I have 117k miles with US Airways, and 26k with Northwest.. I am trying to redeem them to get 2
tickets to my cousins wedding in August.. I want to go from RDU -> SEA, then from SFO->RDU.. I can’t get even one segment with Northwest.. That takes 50k
miles.. Apparently giving them $2000 a few years ago for flights to Rome, London (plus some work trips to Puerto Rico) doesn’t get me shit.. I need to
spend twice that to get one ticket.. Fuckers.. Some “deal” there..
So on to US Airways.. It turns out I can do it and burn up the bulk of my miles
(100k), but it seems crazy.. For 25k I am supposed to be able to do a trip in the US or Canada.. I have had those miles since I was a kid and some of
those transfered from Piedmont Airlines thats how old they are.. I have never been able to use them cause of poor dates, or “no seats”.. I guess this is
my one chance to finally burn those miles up, since I have a feeling they won’t be there for long.. One more bankruptcy and I bet they are
gone..
Sad thing is for $330 a ticket I can purchase the same trip from American on Travelocity.. I mean come on.. I guess they are not a scam
per-se, but it would be nice if I could actually get the advertised rate with my miles..
Lets do some math here.. So for $660 I can purchase the
trip US Airways will offer for 100k miles.. So that makes each “Mile” worth a 1/66th of a cent.. Man what a deal.. Its not even worth the time I spent on
the phone with the english as a 5th language lady trying to find out if I could use my miles..
Arrggghhh..
Anwyay.. Jake if you read this
we are going to party it down when I get to Seattle.. SFO kids i’ll see you then..