...in a minute I’ll be free

JMU won the Division I-AA National Championship this past Friday night. It was the first championship for JMU in football and hopefully this will be a stepping stone for us to jump to Div I-A. The JMU alumni packed the house at Bailey's to watch our Dukes crush Montana. The first half we started a bit slow and everyone was really nervous. However, by the second half JMU turned it on to put the Grizzlies down for good.

Saturday was the Kolar Christmas Party and from I can remember it was good times. Tons of food, kegs of beer, and bottles of Beam were all in abundance. It is definitely a good time when you wake up on a couch and not knowing how you got there but definitely glad you made it to the couch instead of the floor.

I spent the majority of Sunday feeling like I got hit by a truck. I napped, watched football, napped some more and then watched more football. It is quite possibly the best cure for a hangover. In fantasy news, the Donkey Punchers knocked out the Shockers to move on to the Super Bowl in the Dunny league. At least now I'm guaranteed of winning my entrance fee plus a few extra bucks.

The weather went from Fall to deep Winter overnight it seems. It was like 60 degrees two weeks ago and now its like 20 with a windchill close to 0. We even had a little bit of snow last night which could be the culprit for the stupid cable going out (on certain channels). I didn't quite understand how the cable could go out on a few select channels and not all at once. Of course it had to go when I was actually in the middle of watching a movie. Go figure.

I'm floating in the blimp a lot
I feel the feeling I forgot
of swimming weightless in the womb
or bouncing gently 'round the room
In a minute I’ll be free
and you’ll be splashing in the sea

BTW - Preet, you are welcome for posting this for you to read at work.

Give it just a little more time...

Its official JMU has made the I-AA Championship Game this Friday in Chattanooga, TN versus Montana. We will be boozing it up again at Bailey's again like last week. It was a packed house last week for the semis. We got there late but still managed to get smashed. I suppose we should have ate our dinner instead of drinking it.

After Friday's boozefest, the JMU spirit will continue on at the Kolar Christmas Party. This is a party my friend Tara has been having for the past eight years (though this will only be my second I think). Last year was pretty good I would have to say. Drunken Gerald made an appearence and more than likely will show up again.

Speaking of Christmas, I'm about through with my shopping. I knocked out the parents quite easily by getting them a new PC, which was long overdue. And no, this won't spoil it for them since I had the computer shipped to their house and it has already arrived. It is really hard to believe the big day is less than 10 days away. Christmas is hard for me to get into anymore. I guess that's what happens to you if you ever worked retail during the holidays. That was a chaotic 6 years of Christmas at the Locker

Fantasy Football playoffs start this weekend and my Donkey Punchers take on Owens' shit squad the Shockers. The lucky fuck has our head to head edge over the season but I did end the season in 2nd place. So as long as I get past his scrub team, I'm guaranteed a hundred bucks.

Let's Go Dukes!

Some times it comes without warning,
Like the moon in the morning,
It's just one of those things.

Nothing But A Shadow

Finally, I got the new strings on the guitar and its definitely sounding much better. Previously, I had the Tak tuned down to C so I could play some Ben Harper tunes like Ground on Down and Whipping Boy. Granted its not a slide guitar but playing the slide tuned down is definitely an interesting sound.

My favorite new riff to play is from the song Twist by Phish. It goes something along the lines of:

e----------------------------
B---3----3----3----5----7----
G---4----3----3----5----7----
D---5----3----3----5----7----
A---5----1----5--\7----9-----
E---3------------------------

I really think this is pretty cool to play.

Besides that, I think I might be heading down to OZ in Feb. with Britto and Owens. That will be one hell of a riot.

So unless you have been living in a cave or just don't care about Div IAA football, you would know that JMU is in the Semifinals this weekend. The big game is Friday night at 7PM on ESPN2. Timmy, Owens, and myself will be boozing it up for the game tomorrow(tonight) in Arlington. Also, if you had not heard the Dukes have won the CapitolOneBowl online challenge without playing all of the games. We have 8 wins and the second closest competitor has 4 with 3 games to play.

I find it hard to explain how I got here
I think I can I think I can
Then again I will falter
Dream little darling dream

New Strings

Another weekend over and its time to look back upon on what went down. Highlights include new guitar strings, seeing the National Christmas Tree, and of course a drunken Saturday night.

After work on Friday, I headed to Guitar Center to grab some new strings for the Tak. As always, I went into the expensive guitar section and played some guitars I dream of someday owning. Once I got that out of my system I headed to the counter to pick up my strings and head home. Upon arriving home, I realize I grabbed the wrong set of strings. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to put the new strings on, but it would have to wait for another day. Later on, I meet my buddy Tim, his girlfriend Caroline, and our friend Molly out at Coastal Flatts. We have some beers and then go back to his house to hang out for a bit. I played his new guitar, which by the way sounds really sweet and mellow, then head home

Saturday starts off with a 10 am wakeup call from my friend Dave. I wasn't too happy about getting woken up on a day where I can sleep in, especially when I couldn't fall back to sleep. I get up and out of the house to exchange the strings I bought the previous night. I meet him and his wife at the metro and we head into the city to walk around. We stop by Union Station and then head over to the White House to check out the tree. We check out the tree, the buring Yule logs, and all the other garb that is on the south lawn. It was the first time that I'd seen the tree in person and I wasn't as impressed with this tree compared to the one in Rockefeller Center. It started to get dark so we decided to call it a day.

I get home and find out that JMU won its playoff game against Furman and that Tech beat Miami to win the ACC (those lucky bastards). This weekend we meet W&M again and hopefully we won't loose as time expires in this one. If we win, we will advance for the National Championship (of Div I-AA that is).

Well its about boozing time, so I head over to Tim's house with a handle of Beam. We have a few drinks then head to McFaddens to get the night under way. We slam beers, shots and get pretty loaded before heading to this party. A trip to the Ice Luge and a few beers and the details of the remainder of the night get pretty fuzzy after that. I think I spent the majority of the night joking and laughing with these dudes while we all spoke in Scottish/Irish accents. Who knows why?? I was smashed and it seemed like a good idea at the time. We cabbed back to Caroline's (but I don't recall the ride) to crash.

Sunday arrives and the only thing on the brain is, well the only two things on the brain are: football and recover from hangover. I spend the majority of the day transplanted on the couch and keeping track of the fantasy team. The football day ends and my Bears win, along with my fantasy team. Not only that, I knocked Zazzaro's Blazers out of the playoffs and I secured my place in them. I can feel the super bowl prize ready to be claimed by the Donkey Punchers. A bit of good news for Skins fans, they actually won and put up more than 18 points. Who would have thought?

Every moral has a story
every story has an end
every battle has its glory
and its consequence

Thanksgiving in the Noke

I went home to good ole Roanoke this weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a good to catch up with the fam and eat good food for once. Unfortunately, the sorry ass Cowboys beat my pathetic Bears. What better way to drown your sorrows and full stomach by boozing it up with old buddies. We started off at Joe the jew's house then proceeded downtown to hit up the bars. I get hammered and we go for some late night Texas Tavern. If you are ever in Noke you have to try it. I highly recommend a cheesey and a bowl. Though you may regret it the next day, as most do.

The rest of the weekend was rather boring with going out downtown both nights followed up with more TT late night Saturday. A weekend of sleeping on couches, floors, and my old bed make me feel glad to be back home.

Saldy my beloved Wahoos lost to the Chokies in Blacksburg based upon some bad officiating and big plays by Tech. On a high note, JMU won in its opening round playoff game against Lehigh. The Dukes play Furman this weekend and hopefully our team will take the next step towards a national championship.

You tricked me like the others
And now I don't belong
The simple smiles and good times seem all wrong

9:30 Love

So I just saw G. Love & Special Sauce in a 2 night stand at the 9:30 Club downtown. Tristan Prettyman and Slightly Stoopid opened with acoustic sets. Tristan was solid and looking hot as usual. I talked to her and told her how awesome her music is. Her performance with G both nights were a nice touch. Slightly Stoopid's performance was pretty cool both nights with their mixing of reggae, ska, and acoustic rock blues tunes.

Night one was a very upbeat show and had a lot of crowd favorites along with tunes from the new album. It was rather unfortunate the crowd wasn't as attentive and quite talkative during the slower blues jams. I did enjoy some I-76 and the Rock & Roll (Shout Outs Back to the Rappers) as a tribute to the ODB.

The 2nd night would have to be my favorite though because he kicked it back to older jams along with throwing in some new tunes. The crowd was great and smaller, thus making the performance a lot more intimate. My favorite tunes of the evening were the Fishing Song, Shooting Hoops, and Parasite. I was a bit disappointed with the Pussy Song not getting played, but overall I have to say this was one of the best 2 night runs I've been to at the club.

On another music note the Nirvana Box Set came out today which I'm stoked about picking up.

Turkey day is right around the corner and I'm heading down to good ole BC for some good homecooking that I have been longing for many months. It's going to be great being able to eat all the turkey, mashed potatos, homemade rolls, green beans, mac & cheese throughout the day. I will definitely be taking the traditional nap while watching football.

On another note, I'm glad to see that somebody is reading this and Jill was kind enough to post a comment, though she did have to create a Blog herself. Apparently, I had the comments part only available for people who are registered bloggers. I changed the setting, so feel free to comment the shit out of it.

Love myself better than you,
Knowing it's wrong but what should I do

What a weekend...

So the weekend boozefest started off at Sweet Water. After 3 pale ales, I moved on to Manassas to meet Marcus. We make it back to his house somehow (I don't really recall how). I raid his fridge and drunk dial a few of his friends (for reasons unknown).

I wake up on the couch and feel like I got hit by a bus. I stumble into Damon's to meet Owens and Stephen for lunch. Needless to say I looked rough. I ordered a tall glass of water and suck it down like cheap tequila in a dirty bar in Tijuana. I drive home, plant myself on the couch where I reside the rest of the day.

Owens and Stephen show up with some beers later that evening. We have drink a few then Owens bails because he has to work the next day. We head to this party and upon arrival they are out of beer. We bail and head to Ned's and proceed to booze the night away. We check out the band thats playing downstairs, they are horrible to say the least. They play bad covers of Phish, G. Love, and their original tunes.

Sunday arrives and I head out to go to the Skins game with my friend Sarah and her roommate Jess. Jess drives and just as we are about 3 miles from the exit, the car starts acting up. Luckily we make it to the parking lot. Jess turns the car off and it never regains life. We are stranded at FedEx field. At least we can look forward to the game and drinking some beers. We get in and the game starts in typical skins fashion; one debacle right after another on offense. What better time to make a beer run. Skins loose (what's new) and we decide to metro back to Arlington since the car is no use. I finally make it back home and I'm exhausted.

Monday morning arrives way too soon (as always) and its back to work. Unfortunately, I get to start the week sick (sore throat) and tired from lack of real sleep. All and all, not a bad weekend.

With this resigned,
The letter I sign

Might as well...

Since everyone else on the planet appears to be doing it, I might as well follow. More to come later.

Bound to be some change in my pocket,
Bound to be some change in my soul,
Bound to be some good things coming to me,
This time around