The Sunshine State?

Hello all!!! I am updating from Florida right now. I have been hesitant to write because I didn't know where to start, but feel I need to put something out there anyway. Britt and I left at 6AM on Friday and made our way south. After cruising along at a good clip we hit some major traffic and rain in the DC area, which set us back about two and a half hours. We pressed on and decided after 18 hours of driving it was time to find a motel. The search began somewhere near Lake Marion in some small sketch-ville. To our surprise every place had little no vacancy signs taped to their doors. We gave up at the first exit and traveled another tweny miles to the next motel exit, to find the same situation. I couldn't quite understand it since we were in the middle of nowhere. Finally after going fifty miles further south from the original exit we found a sketchy Days Inn and put up with that gross place. In the morning to highlight the Seabrook-ness of the place the continental breakfast included three kinds of doughnuts on a big tray. Yummy!!!

We made it to Jacksonville and met Vanessa around 10:30AM and continued on towards Tarpon Springs. The sky seemed very menacing and when we stopped for lunch the rain began to fall in sheets. So we decided to hang out at the Wendy's/Pilot for a little while. In an effort to pass time and empty my bladder I went into the bathroom and saw a contraption I had never seen before, a cologne vending machine. It looked similar to the condom dispensers typically found in bathrooms, but upon closer examination it was a cologne machine. After inserting a quarter you turn a dial to the type of cologne you want then press a lever and it squirts out the colgne. Hilarious, I took a picture of it and will put it up when I get back. We finally braved the rain and made it in one piece to Tarpon Springs.

The first thing we did once we were settled was go to the movies. We checked out Charlie's Angels 2, which I must say was not good :o( I am very disappointed and felt that it was one "Yeah Baby!" away from an Austin Powers movie. After the movie we met up with Lauren and Lindsay at the Palm Harbor Brew House. It was cool to finally meet them in person since I had only conversed with Lauren online and only seen the occasional picture of Lindsay. We ended up sitting there for a good three hours and chatting it up. Good times were had by all. We finally left and came face to face with a big bad monsoon style rainstorm. It was only a short drive home, but it took forever because of the sheets of raining falling out of the sky. We got to Vanessa's and ran from the driveway to the house, only a short thirty feet, but still got soaked. Did a little Harry Potter reading and then went to bed. I will stop now, but look for more entries soon.

Today's summary: more reading, great pasta lunch, starbucks, mall, barnes and noble and now internet before dinner.

TTFN,
K. Willis

Happy Deathday!
Your name:	keegsands
You will die on:	Wednesday, May 12, 2077
You will die of:	Old Age
Username:

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

Today is my last day before the next road trip to Florida. It is weird I don't feel as if I am going to Florida tomorrow, its not that I am not excited, but it hasn't hit me yet. I am kind of scared about going because it is so hot here, I can't even imagine how it will be down there. I need to get together with my cuz to plan for tomorrow, since we haven't exactly finalized things. So if you are reading this Britt, we need to go shopping for some travel food tonight and should leave at 6AM tomorrow. I have been thinking about getting a Gameboy Advance, but still can't quite decide.

Ah I don't have anything to say this heat has fried all of the creativity from my brain. What the heck am I going to do for the rest of the summer? I am sure I will update from Florida because I always seem to find the internet where ever I go. Well have a great week and definitely talk to you all on July 7th, but perhaps before then.

Later,
K. Willis Sands

Short one

Not much to say today. I didn't do anything last night, just some laundry. I did remember something I meant to put in yesterday's journal. I read about a Japanese probe which was headed for Mars. Well they launched it into space last year and due to some sort of error and then damage to the probe it is just orbiting earth. However they are now sending signals to it and reprogramming it so it will leave our orbit and be on its way to Mars. I found it fascinating that they can not only do the calculations to take it out of orbit using its current information, but also program it from Earth. Which led me to this question. What do you all think is the most amazing thing we have accomplished? The internet, skyscapers, moon landing, artificial hearts, cloning, cars?

GGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!

Despite the rain yesterday, which apparently was even worse in Boston then up in my neck of the woods, I had my second soccer game. We lost, but I actually scored a goal. Now this not seem like a big deal, but in four years of high school soccer I only got like three goals, so I was quite shocked. It was just after we started the second half down 4-1, we started of the half with a bang and put intense pressure on the defense of the purple team. We took a couple shots on the keeper and he cleared it out. At half field we intercepted a pass and one of the guys ran it up the right wing right to the end line. After a little scuffle, the ball popped out towards me at the penalty kick mark at about chest height. I trapped the ball, dodged to the left and kicked it into the center of the net. I couldn't believe it, me scoring a goal, who would have thought. I had another opportunity later, but just couldn't get my feet to cooperate. Overall, I played better this week and was less winded. It was so much fun playing in the rain, it adds an interesting touch to the game. However, I was a dirty mess from the mud and just drove home with most of my gear still on.

It wasn't the only time I was a mess this weekend because I also was filthy on Saturday after canoeing the Agawam River with the BoCaNO crowd. We all met at Mark's parents and after a couple of hours of hemming, hawing, driving, carrying, loading, unloading, waiting and chatting, we set off on our adventure. As with any river it started out small and became wider the closer we got to the ocean. However, the first mile or so was insanely grown in. We basically just paddled against the bushes and pulled ourselves along using the plants on either side of the canoe.
Canoe Bushwhacking

About twenty minutes into the trip Kate and I, in an effort to avoid a tree, both leaned over and our canoe tipped over. The water was shallow so nothing was lost, but we were soaked and it only added to the frustration. After the first mile we ended up in the cranberry bogs, which reminded me of a giant maze. We came across the occasional overgrown areas, but eventually we ended up in a couple of lakes and just paddled are way across them. I almost forgot there were so many portages I lost count. Boy those canoes get heavy after you have carried them over land with gear in them a dozen times. While it might seem like a lot of work it was still a fun day, hanging out with friends and getting messy in nature. It is a very exhilirating feeling and recommend it to any couch potatoes out there.

Enjoy the sun today, of course now that the weekend is over it will be sunny for the next four days. Expect nice weather all next week too, since I will be in Florida.
K. Willis Sands

Road Trip Review Part II

The Germain Amphitheater, Columbus, OH

I arrived a couple hours early for the show, because thats what I do and because I didn't really have anywhere else to go. The parking lot was very empty which I found rather strange until I read the No Tailgating sign. Upon parking the car I got out since I had been sitting down for twelve plus hours, what it was to actually walk around. After stretching for a few minutes I organized the car a bit and grabbed some bread and peanut butter and jelly and made myself a couple of sandwiches on my trunk. The people next to me shot me quite a look when I like the peanut butter off the knife, I just kept thinking I am the only one using it so what is the big deal. They guys in front of me seemed to be too cool for the room even though from the look of them they were more on the not so hip side in my opinion. Along came a guy trying to buy tickets so he could scalp them, but the only guy with an extra ticket wasn't willing to sell his fifty dollar ticket for the ten dollars the guy wanted to pay. Scalpers are so annoying with their, "Buying tickets? Selling tickets?" talk, just try to get off the green line at Fenway on the night of a BoSox game and you are attacked with the shouts of scalpers.


After using the internet for a minute, I locked up the car and headed into the concert, because security was cracking down on tailgaters. The many things I have come accustomed to at Dave Matthews concerts then began while getting frisked on my way into the show. A girl had a camera and the frisker told her cameras weren't allowed and she said it is only a disposable camera, as if somehow because the quality of the pictures isn't as good it would be okay. He of course said no and she tried to convince him it was okay, he didn't budge and then she asked if there was a place she could leave it, but this request was denied and it was a nice long walk to the car for her. Once inside I headed for the over priced merchandise booth, to purchase my tour t-shirt, because the 20+ DMB shirts isn't quite enough for me. I have finally learned after over 30 shows to wear a shirt that I can wear over my new shirt so I don't have to carry the damn thing around all night long. The next stop was the rest rooms where some guy walks in and yells, "Who is psyched for Dave?, to the five of us in the bathroom. Nobody responded and I quickly got out of there before he came over to ask badger be about my apparent lack of enthusiasm. Finally I went to find my seat, but not before I glanced over at the food in the concession stand and considered enjoying a four dollar slice of pizza before remembering I just ate two sandwiches in the car. My seat was in the seventh row of the center section near the stage. I planted myself down and began the fun activity of people watching at a Dave Matthews Band show.

I have come to notice there are four types of people at the shows or at least in the seats close to the stage. The first are the tapers, who get in there as quickly as they can to scope out possible taping locations and to negotiate seating locations with people as they begin to find their seats. They tend to think they are the elite of the crowd and walk with an arrogance which is matched only by the kids parked in front of me in the parking lot. It doesn't help things when tons of people come up to talk with them and exchange business cards in an effort to get a copy of the show. In my experience the tapers don't care if you exchange cards because they will never get back to you. They tend to come to the shows alone since they have to buy a seat just for their equipment. Occasionally a taper will have a girlfriend, who I would imagine has had enough of Dave Matthews Band and is only there to help protect the microphone stand from stumbling drunk people or the tapers worst nightmare, The BeachBall. Sometimes the tapers yell at people who sing out loud or talk during the show because it ruins the quality of their taping. Don't get me wrong, half of my cds are live DMB shows, but you don't have to be so serious. "Come and relax now, put your troubles down, no need to bear the weight of your worries just let them all fade away."

The next type of people are the obvious guy and girl who are obviously not a couple. You can spot these friends from a mile away. He will typically be a huge DMB fan and you can tell by his dress and his amazing seat location. She is usually very attractive and is definitely out of his league. I would have to say I probably relate best to this group and they may be my favorite because it goes to show the amazing power of Dave Matthews Band tickets. When would this guy ever have a shot at going out in public with such a beautiful girl? The answer never. However, I don't really see a problem with it since they are both probably happy, he is because of the girl and she is because of the free concert and some amazing seats.

Let's see the next type of people I see at shows would have to be the Boyd loving heavy set girls. They tend to go to the shows in pairs and for some reason or other are obsessed with the violinist Boyd Tinsley. I don't really mind them because they are generally quiet and thankfully don't go around wearing belly shirts, though there was one at the last show who was constantly revealing her thong every time she sat down, GROSS!! They are the true girl fans, while you might see a teeny bopper who claims she is a fan, don't believe her. The teeny bopper's favorite song is probably "Crash Into Me" and her oldest album is probably Crash. The true girl fans know the obscure stuff and go as far as creating fan books for the band members. I have actually seen one of these books and it is kind of scary, they write letters, draw pictures, make their own lyrics up and tons of other weird stuff. I have even seen some of the girls buy Boyd a shirt, because he is always wearing weird see-through or leather shirts.

The final major group are the under dressed 18-24 year old girls, who like the prior type of girls usually go to the shows in pairs. Obviously this is by far my favorite group to look at, but that is wear my love for them ends. They tend to dress in as little as possible with no regard for the weather outside. I am by no means complaining the spaghetti strap tank tops and hip huggers are great, super even. They also tend to be a little intoxicated and sometimes even pass out and are removed from the show by security. The problem with these girls is they have not concept of what is rude, they are the girls who call their friends in the middle of a quiet song, for what reason I don't know. Luckily nobody has called me from a show, I mean does this actually work? Can the people on the other end hear the concert at even a negligible quality? Hopefully I will never have to find out for myself. My favorite quote from the concert the other day was from two girls who sat in front of me. As one would expect they sat down and of course their thongs immediately became visible due to the nature of hip huggers. They both noticed this and then one of them said,"Did you see when we were walking in here that guy who walked by and just kept like staring at me? God at least be discreet about it." Question: Why the hell should he be discreet you certainly aren't. Gotta love this group.

Of course I left out a couple including the college guys who just want to hear Dave make a reference to getting high or the true couples who don't leave each others sides even for a moment. You also can't forget the old timers like the woman sitting next to me who had to be fifty five years old and was at the show by herself. On top of that there are the people who leave the row every two minutes no matter where the band is in the song. After the final song of the encore we all exited in an orderly fashion. Well except for the one guy who was pulling his girlfriend along at a crazy pace through the wet grass. I just kept thinking dude relax, because once you get to the car their will be a lot of waiting anyway. I made it back to the car and quickly made my way through the traffic and was glad to be back in my car and away from the crazy people I just spent four hours with. However, it is all of these people that make my concert going experience what it is and keep me coming back for more. In the end it is only the music that matters and all of the groups seem to get along relatively well, because they all are there for one thing to see some great music. Which is exactly what we all saw on Tuesday night.



Wow what an entry. I hope you all read my story, I think you may find it quite amusing. It has been by far the longest entry I have every had. Enjoy and have a super weekend!!!
K. Willis Sands

I made it back

Well I am back in Boston now and let me just say it is great to be back. I have a couple of ideas for entries with my recent trip as the subject so I am going to break them into two entries, one today and one tomorrow. Since I have a lot of work to do today I will save the narrative of my experience for tomorrow's entry. I will say that I did have a great time at the show and it was definitely worth the long long long drive.

The drive back went by much faster with the exception of Hartford, CT. I was flying along, Ohio was finished in only a couple hours, Pennsylvania only seemed like a bad dream as opposed to the nightmare it usually is, New York went by so quickly I don't even remember it or perhaps I was just dozing. I finally made it back to New England with the end in sight, until I saw the sign saying rush hour traffic delays in Hartford. I ended up sitting in traffic for an hour. Geez, I can't stand traffic.


Too Much
When the World Ends
If I Had It All
Crush
Rhyme & Reason
Bartender
You Never Know
Stay
Grey Street
Typical Situation
Loving Wings
Where Are You Going
Last Stop
Everyday
Tripping Billies
Encore:
Grace Is Gone
Don't Burn the Pig


Now for my road trip by the numbers:
1,561.1 total miles traveled
6 states passed through
18 songs played by DMB at the concert
36 highest miles per gallon I've seen on my car
28 number of dollars for my new Dave Matthews Band shirt
5 members in the opening band Moe.
1439 days since The Last Stop was played before Tuesday's show
209 DMB shows since The Last Stop was played before Tuesday's show
0 times I was lost (like I would admit if it was higher)
102 maximum speed traveled
48 miles less on the return trip (trust the mapping software)
5 years in a row at the first show of the tour
70 average speed including the stops
24 hours in the car over the course of the trip
5 different foods I had ( S'mores pop tarts, pretzels, dried mangoes, apples, pb&j)
2 stops on the way home (1 bathroom break, 1 gas fill up)
408 miles on one tank of gas with some to spare

I'm saying open up
And let the rain come pouring in
Wash out this tired notion
That the best is yet to come
-David John Matthews
Mark here is a link for the audio to Pig. I love this song, definitely in my top 10 (please don't ask me to produce that list it could take years)

Have to make it quick

Hi everybody I am sitting in my car outside the Germain amphitheatre. Now I know what kind of a dork uses a computer while tailgating at a concert. The answer is me. So I brought my wireless network card and plugged it in to see what I could find and I found the box office's wireless network. So I have been using the internet and chatting on IM. I just remembered to update my lj.

The drive here was long and boring, it was 812 miles and took me 12 hours to get here. I struggled with the radio the entire ride trying to pick up the Howard Stern show. It was in and out but it kept me busy. I think I will be back for BoCaNo tomorrow night, but I didn't get an email for it, perhaps it just hasn't been sent out yet. Well I am going to go while the internet still works.

Peace from the Dave Matthews concert in Columbus, OH.
Keeg

Late developments

Ah intellicast thought they would get away with it but I did a double check before shutting my computer down.

Thursday, June 19 - Showers possible. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 60s.
Friday, June 20 - Few showers. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50s.

So they have gone back to the rainy forecast they started with. The temps are dropped down in to the 60s for Friday and showers on both days. Well I wonder if the forecast will change again before I get back from Ohio.

So if anybody is around on Tuesday or Wednesday go to Intellicast Boston weather and comment on any changes they made.

Thanks,
Keeg

Now we're talking

Anybody in New England yesterday knows yesterday was a super day. Of course it was a little chilly near the coast, but just seeing the sun definitely made the day. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the beach, but I am hoping it will be nice next weekend and I can get some color before going to Florida, which is less than two weeks away. Definitely looking forward to the road trip and getting out of this place. Apparently the BoSox will be in Tampa that week, now I just have to convince the girls to go to another game, but at Tropicana Field this time.

However, I am now getting ahead of myself since I have a road trip tomorrow to Columbus, OH. I am really excited to see Dave Matthews Band and rumor has it they will be playing some older stuff. Woo hoo!!! Unfortunately I won't be posting again until Thursday. Here are a few songs the community is anticipating:
Minarets
Typical Situation
The Last Stop
Spoon

They were handing out some Dannon Frusion today in the street.

It is a combination of juice and yogurt. It was quite delicious the flavor was Peach Passion Fruit. I am willing to bet the ten ounce size probably costs about two dollars a bottle so I probably won't try it. I just don't understand why beverages cost so much these days. You can't get a juice for less than $1.50. I think they should cost a dollar at the most. How can a gallon of gasoline cost about the same as sixteen ounces of cranberry juice or ten ounces of yogurt-juice? Aren't we going to run out of oil in a few years, shouldn't it cost a little bit more?

Thursday, June 19 - Mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the upper 50s.

Friday, June 20 - Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the upper 50s.

The boring test continues, the changes are becoming more slight, but the forecast stills seems to be changing a little bit.

It was a nice day today, what a nice change. The weird thing is if today's weather happened a year ago or any other average summer it would have seemed like a cold waste of a day, but since it rains every weekend it seemed B-E-A-utiful.

The latest

Okay, I am still keeping track of the forecast for Thursday and Friday, it appears they have done some more fine tuning.
Thursday June, 19 - A few thunderstorms possible. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 50s.
Friday June 20 - Partial sunshine. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the upper 50s.

They just can't get it straight.

I had to laugh today while running on the treadmill at the gym. I see people come in all the time to evaluate whether they want to sign up for our gym. It is just funny the way they walk around and inspect things like it makes a difference. I often wonder if they are checking on the people working out and saying, they seem normal and look like they are getting fit, maybe we should go here. Just a thought.

Last night I went to Stars, a bar across the street from Northeastern University. It was pretty cool inside except they only serve beer and wine, which would be fine if they actually had a variety. The two bartenders there to serve the fifty foot long bar were just not enough and they always had a varying list of four available drinks. At one point I stood there for at least fifteen minutes just waiting to be served. Time to hire some new staff I think and order a little better.

Things are looking up

They have changed the forecast already, here is the current forecast:
Thursday (6/19) - Partly cloudy, chance of a thunderstorm. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the low 60s.
Friday (6/20) Thunderstorms likely. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the upper 50s.

So to recap in 24 hours we have gained some sunshine on Thursday and gained a more severe form of rain. It is nice to see results already, I just have to remember to check this weekend.

Have a great weekend everybody, stay dry.

Challenging the weather

I have talked about it for a while, but will finally challenge the meteoroligists and their seven day forecasts. I will be using Intellicast.com as my source and have chosen next Thursday (6/19) and Friday (6/20) as my test days. Every day I will post what the forecast for those days currently is on Intellicast.com.

So the current forecast is:
Thursday (6/19) - Periods of light rain. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 60's.

Friday (6/20) - Showers possible. High in the low 70s and lows in the low 60s.

So let's see what happens with their predictions. I hope they are wrong.

Strange Days

I have to say my life lately has been very strange and certainly lacking its typical routine, but this is all okay with me. For example, yesterday I went home to Newburyport and met up with Caitlin in Newburyport. Yeah I know before you all click the "comment on this" link, or whatever it is called, not that anybody really reads this and post comments anymore anyway, just relax. She was working on a project for her film editing class and I volunteered to join her for some filming around the downtown area of Newburyport. It was mostly just filming random shots of the river or the buildings downtown, but I had a good time and that is all that matters really. While I was there my phone rang and the woman on the other end of the line told me my car was ready, which put an even bigger smile on my face. An hour, one frappucino and fifteen minutes of footage later Cait and I parted ways and I began calling home looking for somebody to help me get my car. Nobody was home. I racked my brain and decided I would call Emily and for a little favor, she agreed to help me out if I returned the favor by helping her drop of her car.

So I picked her up in my brother's car and we went to Portsmouth to get my car. In the end my car situation was straightened out, finally!!! Next we had to drop of the black smoke spewing Cabriolet off. I must say that car is a piece of work, from the black smoke to the windows that don't quite close. I wish I had a picture to post, its a classic. This is close:

Car dropped off then was invited to join Em's family for dinner. So since I rarely eat a home cooked meal, I stayed. Yummy!! I then went home and went to bed. What a busy day I had.

Now I am thinking of making a Dave Matthews Cd but just of cover songs he has done. Here is my tracklist so far.
Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away - Willie Nelson
If I Had a Boat - Lyle Lovett
Gulf Coast Highway - Nancy Griffith
All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan
Angel From Montgomery - John Prine
Exodus - Bob Marley
For the Beauty of Wynona - Daniel LaNois
In My Life - John Lennon
Imagine - John Lennon
Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago - Soul Coughing
Long Black Veil - Johnny Cash
The Maker - Daniel LaNois
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon
Redemption Song - Bob Marley
Stir It Up - Bob Marley
Stuck On You - Elvis Presley
Tangerine - Led Zeppelin
Waste - Phish
The Temple - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Watermelon Song -
Wild Horses - Rolling Stones

Phew what a list, now to burn the cd.

Here comes the sun

I just checked the forecast and it appears the sun my show up again this week. It was nice to see it yesterday in the afternoon even if it was only out for a couple hours. Conveniently it was at its prime right about the time I played my soccer game. The game went well, though it has now become apparent to me that I am out of shape. We won the game 3-2, I was fairly happy with my play. It took me a half to get back in the swing of things, but it is good to be back. I did bother my ankle again, but will spare you the pictures this time.

I had some car issues this weekend. I was driving and it just wasn't acting right and so now I have to have a tow truck come pick my car up and tow it to the dealership. It is annoying, I am not worried about paying because it is still under warranty, but seriously I was so stressed out because I have a trip coming up and who knows how long it will take them to fix it. For the time being I get to drive my brother's car the Spec, while he is in Las Vegas. I just want my car back.

I did see two movies last weekend, 2 Fast, 2 Furious which I give a B- and A Mighty Wind which I also give a B- too. Sorry I don't have time for a more detailed review.

Different night

Tonight was out of the ordinary for me, to say the least. It started with a trip to the Elephant & Castle for a drink with Mark and Kate. Good times, though I felt like I talked so much, perhaps because I haven't seen them in a long time. After having a couple yummy Raspberry Cider Jacks, I headed to the Comedy Connection for the Stuttering John and friends show. I only bought one ticket so had to sit with strangers, but they were pretty cool and the seats were close. The show was good, Nick DiPaolo was the best, Stuttering John was funny and Artie just didn't live up to my expectations. He was funny but the whole act seemed very improvised and didn't have much organization. I did get to give Artie a high five, which was cool. After the show I decided to walk to North Station to catch the Orange Line.

After walking by about a dozen bars with tons of girls, I decided I should maybe stop in to a bar and check out the scene. It wasn't too bad and I was surprised at just how many girls there were. It gave me some hope that I will actually meet somebody. Of course since I haven't finished reading my new book How to succeed with women? (thanks Scottie), I didn't actually approach any girls, though I did come very very close to talking with one girl. I just didn't know what to say and for once in my life was at a loss for words. After having a few drinks, including a Sam Adams Winter Lager for a dollar. I did feel kind of sketch because I just stood there and didn't really do much, but it was a starting point and allowed me to get used to the whole scene. After a good amoutn of time, I decided to leave and came home. Since getting home I have been online and decided I never post this early in the morning so here is a nice 2 AM posting.

Have to drop my car off at the dealer tomorrow for a check up, but no other plans beside that.
TTYL,
K.Willis

Late update

Sorry for the late update, but I am in the middle east crossing a desert so I haven't really had time to update.

Later,
K. Willis

More nostalgia

I have now pulled myself away from these things long enough to make an entry about them. It has been a long time since I have seen one of these Magic Eye books. It took me a long time to actually learn how to see the pictures, but once you figure it out its like riding a bicycle, you never forget. For more images go to Google Images search for Magic Eye

only one more day left in the week after today i can't wait for tomorrow since it is pay day and i am currently a little bit short on cash i am also thinking about going to see stuttering john and friends at the comedy connection this weekend either on friday or saturday i am looking for somebody to go with me though so if you are interested let me know artie lange live is going to be great and i am sure i will be laughing my ass off besides that this weekend will also involve hopefully my first soccer game on sunday i drove by the field last night and some people were playing a pick up game i didn't join in because i am too shy to just walk up to people i don't know to play soccer even though it seems like sports being an unspoken international language i could just hop on the field and given the same rules feel a part of the situation i won't be so shy on sunday because i will have a team and be looking for a specific people ie my team the green team if sunday goes well i will hopefully join the pick up game next wednesday the people in the game seemed about my age which was good and there were a bunch of girls playing it would be pretty sweet to find a soccer playing girl and if she skis even better okay that is all of this oj style entry for now talk to you all soon

with love,
keegan willis sands

Retro game day

I got the hell out of here as soon as possible yesterday and ended up over at Britt's so I could fix her computer. I have had a heck of a time setting up the wireless network over there, the laptop is recognizing the network, but can't seem to get on the internet. After struggling with that for a good two hours, I gave up and joined Britt in a game of Super Mario Brothers 3. We had to start on world 7, which is one of the most difficult worlds in the game. It was tough especially because of damn Lakitu, but it all started to come back to me after a few lost lives. It is amazing how many of the obscure secrets you can remember from something you played ten years ago. OJ came home and it is funny watching how good he is, knowlege of enemy location is uncanny and allows him to tear through levels at quite a clip. So much fun, I could play Super Nes for hours on end.


Given my current nostalgic state I did a couple google searches for Mario information and was finally able to back up my story about Super Mario Brothers 2. Apparently SMB2 was released in Japan as a continuation of SMB, but when they were going to bring it across the Pacific to the US they decided it would be too difficult for Americans. So instead they took another game called Doki Doki Panic and released it in the US as the SMB2 I have come to know and hate. However, Nintendo did finally release the original SMB2 in the Super Mario All-Stars release, but it was titled The Lost Levels. Unfortunately, at the time nobody really cared because we were all busy with Super Mario World. Well that is my little history on Mario, for more info check out Super Mario Brothers 2 Japan.

Right now I am listening to a pizza eating contest on the radio. They are trying to eat two pizzas in a half an hour. Maybe today for lunch I will try to eat one large Jaybo pizza. Do you think I can do it? Check out food records for some interesting feats in the competitive sport of eating.

K. Willis

I almost forgot today is Mark's birthday. So in honor of his birthday I have created a slideshow of pictures. Mark's Birthday Slideshow I hope you all enjoy. Best wishes on your birthday Mark. I do feel as though I should have made a sailboat cake, but I hope this little pictorial will suffice. Many happy returns of the day!!

Terrific Tuesday

Can't you just smell the sarcasm in today's subject? So I am back at work again, I sure do love this place. I saw that the weather is going to be nice again with rain forecast for the next couple of days. The weekend also looks to be shaping up to be cloudy and rainy again, I can't wait.

Last night I enjoyed a wonderful night at the gym followed by a walk on the Newburyport waterfront. The just finished redoing the boardwalk and it looks fantastic. The walk did bring back some good memories. It actually felt like summer and for a minute there I thought it was the end of July. I then went home and hung out before going to bed.

Complete Washout

I was wondering if we are actually going to have summer this year or just move directly from late winter to autumn. I think yesterday could possibly have been the most depressing day of my life. Don't get me wrong I did get a major amount of cleaning done in my, to quote John, "Museum-like" room, but the rain does bring me down. I did leave the house more than once, the first time to buy soccer equipment and the second time to verify the fact that my first trip was a complete waste and could have been done at a later date. At least I got out though. The high point to yesterday was watching the complete second and half of the seventh season of Mad About You. Yes I know watching the show just adds to my already idealistic views of relationships, but it is entertaining. Another high point was my chatting with Vanessa, the only person outside of my immediate family I had any contact with yesterday. I swear if this rain continues for many more weekends I am going to have to move to somewhere drier, like Seattle.

I did see The Italian Job on Saturday, which I thought was a great action movie. The story seems to flow and never really lags, which is very helpful. The chase scenes and action sequences were exciting and the dialogue was humorous. Plus I can't forget the beautiful Charlize Theron, she is so fine. Smart, funny and good looking, what a perfect combination. I did have one issue with the movie, after watching the Mini Coopers fly around LA in the movie, upon returning to my car I drove like a maniac. However, I think that is a good thing about the movie. B+

A little sound file for your listenting pleasure. New favorite radio spot