do do do do-da-do do do do do

Many people who make electric dance music are old. Most people who listen to electric dance music are young. I don't get it.

Can you help me place this call?

This whole Blog thing is going really well, but I realize that it's turning out to be more of a journal and less of a blog. For that reason, I'm considering taking Ideas for Digesting to "the next level." Once the semester winds down I feel I will have the time and energy to blog everyday and give insight on a topic I enjoy.

I'm setting a goal for myself, to determine the direction of the blog by the time I get home from Chennai on June 13th of this year. Until then, I will continue to blog as I have been while deciding what type of information I will share on my reinvented blog.

Initially, I thought it may be a good idea to poll you, the readers, to find out what you think I should focus the blog on. Then I realized a better idea would be to ask you to watch 3 cover versions of Jim Croce's song Operator and vote which is best. Enjoy!

This dude has lots of videos on youtube and does any cover you ever want to hear.

All right....

And that's all. Now get down there and rock the vote.

Sweet!

Is there anything uncool about Sammy Davis JR.?

Happy Birthday!! and all that.

A few years ago I walked into my kitchen and Grey made me watch a video of a band on The Tonight Show. He said they, "rocked harder than any other band out there." We, along with Juan and Dee, then drank a bottle of booze and danced to My Morning Jacket in the kitchen until the early morning.

That band did, and does, rock harder than any band out there. Since that night My Morning Jacket has become my favorite band. I will always appreciate being turned on to amazing bands, it's a great gift.

Since April is the month of so many of my close friend's birthdays, I thought I'd wish them all a big Happy Birthday with a stream of a show that I was at on New Year's Eve 2008. The show is epic and said to be one of the bands best 2 shows of all time. The other is their Bonnaroo 2008 late-night set which I was also in the crowd for.

So Happy Birthday, Dave (4/4), Grey (4/5), Wolfman (4/6), Peabody (4/12), Steve (4/14), Brian (4/20), and Brian (4/30).

If I missed anyone, my bad, don't have a facebook so I have to actually remember or write these things down.

Loose Ends.

The blog structuring has gone out the window for the time being. My life has gotten really busy and there's just not enough time to be gettin all ho hum about this blog. So it seems until the end of the semester the posts will just pop out whenever and contain...well...whatever. I hope you stay tuned and enjoy.

It has also come to my attention that most people who actually read my mind don't really know these little diddys come from a blog. Thanks to Google's new Buzz application, they've made it possible for my "Buzz followers" to see my posts in their inbox. To those people, Lucky You!

In case anyone was wondering the URL where these masterpieces of American writing can be found at ideasfordigesting.blogspot.com

The 5k Results!

The TKE 5k was this past weekend and although all things didn’t go exactly as planned, I was certainly happy with the results of the road race.

Let me get right to the point with this one. I forgot all my running gear at home. Yup. Mike, Dee, and I made plans to get to Uconn about 1 hour before race time so we needed to leave West Haven at 9 a.m. The day of the race Mike shows up, we get in the car and away we go to Uconn. It was the most beautiful day to run, a slight breeze, shining sun, and perfectly clear sky. We pull into the parking lot right on time and my heart started to flutter with excitement. The Storrs campus on a perfect spring day is probably one of the most beautiful places in Connecticut. Not to mention, every time I visit, I am usually slapped in the brain with a palm full of memories.

I opened the backseat to grab my bag….no bag. I opened the trunk…..no bag. After all the talking and all the training, there I was an hour before the race wearing jeans and some broke down casual shoes.

I wore my disappointment for myself like a sandwich board. With help from some of my brothers, I tried to track down sneakers, but with no luck. After I exhausted all my resources, I accepted it just wasn’t my day to run.

Then right as I sat down and gave up, Stephanie, a lifelong friend from West Haven, shows up to walk in the event. She was shocked to hear I wasn’t running since she was there in Pigeon Key and knew how hard I’d been training for the race. Without hesitation she said, “You can wear my sneakers, I’m just walking it.” If the sun hadn’t already been shining, my face probably would have done just as well a job of lighting up the campus at that moment. A quick trip to the Co-op for some shorts and I was ready to go!

After surprising everyone last year with my finish, I was a heavy favorite to win the road race. However, checking out the field, I knew there were some serious runners and my chances of taking 1st were slim. My goal was still just to come in before Pat Hevey who last year completely blew me out finishing as the first TKE brother.



11:30 a.m. the gun went off. I had a bad position at the back of the pack of over 100 runners, but within a quarter mile I was out in the lead group. I passed Hevey early on but knew it wasn’t the last of him. In fact, the worst thing I could have done was pass him that early because before I knew it I heard the tap tap tap tap of running sneakers behind me and without turning around could tell it was Pat.

We were approaching the hardest leg of the race (1 mile, uphill, into the wind) when Hevey turned to me and said, “Easy day.” I thought so this is where he leaves me in his dust? I was wrong. He explained how this was something he heard during military training. He then went on, telling me stories about the courses he used to run, wearing full gear, and carrying 60 lbs packs. He kept talking about how the human body is an amazing thing because many times its physical limits can be pushed further than the mind ever expects. “Mind over matter,” he would say. The most importing thing you need when reaching for a goal you feel is unrealistic is support from people who care about you. I started to get the feeling this kid was trying to teach me a very important lesson about teamwork.

Running side by side with Pat, I knew there was no way I would pass him out. I also knew there was no way I was going to let him blow past me. And inside I don’t think he had any intentions to. I’d like to say we were pushing one another, but in fairness it was mostly him pushing me to run my hardest and try my best. We passed runner after runner, picking out a goal ahead of us, catching up, and taking the position. After 20:45 we crossed the finish line side by side 10/11 out of a field of over 100. We were the 2 first brothers across, one active and one alumnus.

The race was a success and at the risk of sounding cliché, the real winner was Autism Speaks. The Fraternity raised over $7,000 (and counting) on an empty campus, the day before a holiday, making this road race the most successful charity event in the chapter’s history. Click the link to read about it in the Daily Campus.

Running wont get you far.

I haven’t had too much time to blog and all sorry. My workload at work has almost doubled this past month as I am part of a training process taking place in both here and Chennai. May 20th I’ll be visiting Chennai for a second time in order to transfer some knowledge to the kiddies over there. More on that later.

More work at work means less time to do homework. That time has to be made up on the weekends, which brings me to this weekend.

I’ll be running my first 5k of the season and I’m pretty pumped on it. Over the past few months, I’ve been training pretty hard and I feel that I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in. Last year, I was pleasantly surprised by my showing in the race so I’m hoping to improve this time around. The most important thing is the cause, which is Autism Speaks, the second thing is my time. I’m trying to come under 18:00. Lastly is the place I finish in.

Last year I boldly said, “I am going to win this thing next year.” I really thought I could, I wasn’t very from off from the leader. Now, I’d just like to finish 1st of all the TKE brothers who are participating. This would mean I need to finish at least top 10.

We'll see.

Sorry nothing spectacular lately. There’s more to come and Ill even tell you about the trip to Pigeon Key last week.

In case you haven’t noticed, MGMT has a new album and it's awesome. Check it out! It's not as ooooooo, or Yeah DANCING!!, or ????!!!! as the old stuff, but their sound has really evolved. When a band like them makes such a big splash, as they did with Oracular, I always expect a flop on the second one. Not this time. That said, if you're looking to dance naked on e to it then you may be let down, but if you can appreciate their vision and then you'll love it.

I guess that should have been a seperate post, oh well. Cosider it your lucky day! 2 posts for one!