thank you tiff for alerting me of the upcoming modest mouse release, we were dead before the ship even sank. if you go to their website you can hear it or go here to read the lyrics. modest mouse’s last album, good news for people who love bad news was by far my most listened to album last year - it had been a long time since i’d found an album that was so easy to relate to on so many levels. as the title suggests, not the most positive album, but i vented a lot of frustration (and did some serious hearing damage) while listening to that album.

reeeeeealy looking forward to the next release and anticipating spending an obscene amount of money on tix if they come to nashville.

christine tagged me and i’m supposed to list 6 weird things about myself so here it goes…

The rules are as follows: Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post telling 6 weird things about themself… as well as clearly state the rules. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “you’re tagged” in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means.

1. i love campbell’s pork and beans on toast. i learned it from dad. (he’s english - must be in his genes) i would eat this for lunch at work every day if i wasn’t afraid of the mockery that would ensue. i am not the only one: exhibit a and exhibit b and exhibit c.

2. my left wrist is missing. i have rheumatoid arthritis and before i started taking my current med, it messed me up pretty well. they basically connected the middle bone in my hand to my arm bone with a metal plate and 5 screws, so my wrist doesn’t move. (urban legend dispelled - i can still move: fingers, knuckles, elbow, shoulder and neck. every time a new person finds out about my wrist, they say “so you can’t do this?” and the move one of the aforementioned body parts, none of which were affected by the surgery) learn more here

3. aversion to tags/tape/sticky things/gummy things. i can’t really explain or elaborate on this.

4. potato chip eating protocol. i have to eat the smallest pieces first and save the nice, pefectly formed ones for last.

5. milk with every meal. until i went to college, i think i drank milk with every dinner, or pretty close to it. spaghetti and meatballs - and milk. chicken and potatoes and gravy - and milk. cottage cheese was also consumed at nearly every meal and i kind of like how it tastes when it gets mixed in with the potatoes and gravy. (hey, if christne can post that she only showers every 3rd day, i figured we were going for brutally honest here…)

6. anti-high five. i am not sure what brought this about, but at one point i decided i just don’t like high fives. i do not participate. warning: i will leave you hanging.

ok now for my tags:

1. tiffany (in PA)
2. tiffany (in TN)
3. brian
4. john michael
5. cyndi
6. kara (why the heck do you not have a blog, kara?)

i read a review of dustin kensrue’s new album (thrice’s lead singer) that described the album as a combination of johnny cash and pedro the lion. who can argue with that?

just bought it on itunes and read the lyrics. very good. very, very good. i think i just did a flip. a must buy.

catch him on letterman feb. 2, or else.

i took the google adwords certification exam at work last friday. it had been quite some time since i’d actually taken a test, and this was something i was supposed to know about, so i was going to feel really stupid if i failed. luckily, i did a good job and passed. here are my tips:

1. use adwords: don’t try to take the test if you aren’t familiar with adwords. most of the questions can be answered through experience, not studying.

2. read a little: some things just won’t be learned by experience, like…what is the proper course of action to take if someone is using your company’s name in their adwords ad? you wouldn’t know that unless it happened to you. so you should at least look over the info at the adwords learning center. me, being the very thorough person that i am and wanting to know every “how” and “why” about adwords, i read every lesson and took every quiz. it was also really helpful to run through the quizzes in the hour before i took the test. would i have passed if i hadn’t done that? probably. but i learned some new things, a few of the test questions were taken directly from the quizzes, and i wouldn’t have gotten a 90% if i hadn’t read/quizzed at the learning center.

3. go with your gut: the test is 110 or so questions and you get 90 minutes. don’t think too hard. i finished in about 40 minutes because tests spur me into some kind of super-human reading comprehension speed. if you aren’t sure you can tag a question and come back later, a feature i used on a few questions.

4. prepare for the anti-climactic ending: no, the google adwords police don’t drop down from helicopters and award you some kind of magical google green beret that doubles your salary. you get a crappy email that says you passed. not even one piece of confetti.

5. if at first you don’t succeed: then you must not know enough. c’mon. you only have to get 75% right. if you only know 75% of things you should know about adwords, do you really want some company to entrust you with their advertising budgets? you can take the test twice a month until you pass.

i’m sure this is completely useless information for roughly 100% of the regular blog readers here. but, on the off chance that someone is looking for info on the test and finds this via a search, i can now say i have contributed something useful to the internet. my blog is now meaningful.

no more crap topics. promise.

new shoes!

Originally uploaded by xetark.

i got some new shoes today, and its not even because i lost a job and needed a consolation prize (like my last 2 pairs of all stars…haha)! they were a gift from brian. hooray for husbands who understand the importance of valentine’s day shoes (they are brown with pink dots that form hearts) they are perhaps the finest pair of shoes i have ever laid my eyes on. YAY for new shoes!

Tanks

Originally uploaded by maniwa_pa.

what are the chances that on my dad’s 63rd birthday, i come across a flickr pic of the place he’s worked (welch’s) as a tank house attendant for 45 years? looks enticing, no? and a big happy birthday to my dad who has no idea how to turn on a computer or what a blog is and will be cleaning these very tanks for another hour and a half tonight.

i just read this story about asparagus pee at chow.com and i’m not going to lie - i was very interested in the article, and the further i read the wider my eyes got. when i got to the kicker at the end, there may have been a jaw drop. fascinating! (i’m a dork)

on a side note, why did it take me a year and a half to think of adding a category to my blog called “who knew” where i would post random facts and interesting trivia (such as the asparagus article)? who knew i could be such an idiot.

happy birthday to the mystery pbr-fan.

(hint: the above is not a picture of shannon, who is open with his affection for pbr. but this is.)

i am not sure how anyone could possibly expect me to not go to the nashville humane society and rescue sid, who is very obviously hershey’s long lost brother:

sid:

hershey:

its been a rather eventful start to the year.

some friends had a baby!
some other friends booked their tix to come to visit in february!
other friends have (finally) sold their house and plan to visit later this spring.
got to meet friends of friends.

(wow, it sounds like we have a LOT of friends now. don’t be decieved. nothing has changed. we don’t.)

i’ll have warm hands when i run and be able to hook my mp3 player into my stereo as of saturday thanks to a few bday presents.
got to give bday presents to other people, which is equally as fun as getting presents.
ordered some rain boots.
found a place to rent. lost a place to rent. found a better place to rent. signed a lease as of today, moving at the end of the month.
rode a stationary bike for the first time in a long time. in the middle of the work day. that was nice.
planning on running further than i’ve ever run on saturday.
45 day review coming up at the job.

11 days in and 2007 is performing well.