robglazebrook.com

You know, in my defense, I really did assume that sitting in front of a computer for at least eight hours a day, five days a week, would increase my blogging significantly. But I guess you know what they say about “assume”… people like to make up sayings about it because their lives are otherwise empty and meaningless. And also, their hair is thinning, and yes, everyone has noticed.

I had a pretty darn good time this last weekend. Friday night, Dana, Megan, Megan’sFianceeScott, Justin, and I all went to see Sister Hazel in concert at the Simon Estes amphitheater downtown. Dana has a lot of stuff posted about this, as well, so you might wanna check out her blog (assuming you can make it all the way through the panic attack sequence). ;) It was a great concert, and the fireworks only added to the fun. Particularly when they paused briefly in the middle of the show to sing the Star-Spangled Banner under the light of the fireworks. :)

After the concert, we all headed to a bar called El Bait Shop for a few drinks, and we were joined by Dana’s roomy Kate and Yusuf. I had a moderately adequate IPA, while Dana stumbled across a very yummy beer called Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic. I wasn’t aware of how cool a beer it was until this morning, when I read up on the particulars of the lambic brewing process (to save you a bit of reading, no yeast is artificially added to the beers: they are simply exposed to the open air during the Belgian harvest season, resulting in a spontaneous fermentation. They’re then stored in barrels for a couple of years before being bottled, making them closer to a champagne than a traditional beer). We happily discovered we could buy lambics at Cyclone Liquors in Ames, so we’ve a new alternative for special occasions. Scott and I also amused ourselves (if not the others) playing an old arcade game (Galatica, I think it was called) which was built into our table.

After we’d had our fill at el bait shop (eww), we headed, sans-Justin (who was tuckered (probably) and sober (definitely)), to Blazing Saddles, which is a somewhat small but ~very~ gay bar downtown, where we spent an hour or two dancing. I only got my tush grabbed twice, but I’ll still consider it a good night. ;) I can’t be sure, but at one point I thought I overheard Megan warning a guy behind me on the dance floor that I was, in fact, straight. One of them had their hand on my butt at the time. And I’d rather not explore that idea much further.

After we’d had our fill of dancing, we all headed our respective ways. Dana headed back to Ankeny, and Megan drove me back to my car (parked in front of her house), and I left for Ames shortly thereafter, much to Scott’s dismay. However, he was a little (read: a lot) less sober than me, and his primary argument against me driving home was something along the lines of, “Rob! Rob! Hey… staaaaaayyy.” Which almost worked, cause it was pretty damn fun.

Saturday, I woke up feelin’ pretty good, so I cleaned my apartment a bit and read some Harry Potter (nearly done with book 4) before Dana came over to hang out. We got burritos at Flying Burrito, picked up some beer (something-Goose Ale for me (eh, it’s okay) and Framboise for her) and watched the Underworld movies. Yay, vampire fun!

Sunday! I drove down to Ankeny and Dana and I ate lunch at Chili’s, which was the first time I’d been at any Chili’s restaurant since I visited Megan working at that exact same one two or so years before. Nobody looking even remotely Meganlike was working, though, so after a while I was able to get over myself and enjoy my food a little, though I think Dana noticed I wasn’t much for conversation. We then played with the kittens a little (again, see Dana for womanish details) and headed to Jordan Creek, where I bought two pairs of flip-flops at Old Navy for $5, and then we went to see Superman Returns in the theater (gotta support Iowa boy Brandon Routh). The Century theater is decidedly better than Ames theaters in terms of seating, screen size/clarity, and sound quality, but I will say this for Ames theaters: the ratio of adults to children is ~VASTLY~ superior. We’ve been to the Century theater twice now, and both times I ended up surrounded by eight-year-olds who insisted on kicking my seat from behind, noisily chomping on their snacks, and talking to their parents (suspiciously several seats away) loudly throughout the movie. The screen may be better, sure, but I think I prefer watching movies in Ames, where I can actually hear the dialogue and watch the film in relative peace.

End rant. :)

So that should do for now. Because I know I’ve been a bad blogbuddy, I’ve posted a new entry, new pictures, ~and~ new links for today. I hope that’ll be enough to slake your thirst for all things Robbystyle, at least temporarily. ;)

Wow. The last week and a half have really just flown by for me. I apologize for the long delay in posting, but I’ve discovered something fascinating in the last couple of weeks: when I spend 8 hours a day sitting in front of a computer, I don’t much feel like doing the same at home. :) Especially when it’s nice outside, like it has been the last few days.

Dana and I went hiking at Ledges Friday night after I got home from work, which was pretty fun. I would’ve taken pictures, but to be honest, I haven’t seen my digital camera since I moved. This would make me more nervous, except I haven’t seen a ~lot~ of things since I moved, and I expect I simply haven’t gotten far enough in my unpacking. All of my stuff is in my new apartment, but a good portion of it is just sitting in random boxes, bags, or shopping carts, waiting for the day I get home from work and think to myself, “I sure would love to spend the next six hours organizing!” Until then, things will be missing.

I spent Saturday reading The Da Vinci Code. Well, most of it, anyway. I have 30 or so pages left, which I hope to get in this evening sometime. It’s a generally fun read, although certain portions of Dan Brown’s writing style get on my nerves. He tends to tell the audience exactly what the characters are thinking, but from an outside perspective. The result is odd sentences which read something like, “Sophie looked as though she had only gotten four hours sleep the night before and had eaten scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.” All I gotta say is, this floating narrator is pretty damn perceptive. Unnervingly so.

There was a concert behind my apartment Saturday night, so Dana and I sat on the roof drinking a beer or two (literally, unfortunately) and watching the drunken middle-aged people acting silly below. Watching women older than my mom drunkenly shake their groove thangs really requires me to be a little more intoxicated than I was.

Sunday, Dana and I ate a large lunch at King Buffet, caught Stick It at the theater (I’m not allowed to see Da Vinci until I finish the book) to give us time to digest, and then worked off the calories by playing racquetball until we couldn’t really swing our arms anymore. The rest of the evening was pretty well devoted to watching season 3 of Alias.

Since the series finale of Alias airs tonight, and I’m not allowed to watch it because I’m not caught up, I’ll have a few hours sans-Dana to try to do something productive with my apartment. I’ll probably try to play racquetball or something instead. I weighed myself Sunday when I was at the Rec, and was fairly discouraged by the scale’s estimate. I need to start working out regularly and rigorously.

And yes, we’re going to call it an estimate. For my sanity. Never mind the fact it’s a giant, digital, expensive-looking model that looks like it could be accurate to the ounce up to a ton or two.

Well, it

Last night was likely my last college class ever. Fittingly, I spent it in a bar. That’s where the class was held, though… I wasn’t skipping or anything. Ask Quinn or someone if you don’t believe me. I’d say ask Amanda, but nobody really believes things she says anyway. :) I had a good time, and a few of us went out for (more) food and (more) drinks afterwards. It wasn’t until I was getting ready for bed that evening that the realization hit me that I had probably just attended my last class of Ever.

I do have one assignment left to turn in next week, it seems. I have two options: either I can write a 1,500 word teaching philosophy (essentially why I teach the way I do), or I can write a 1,200 word essay explaining why I shouldn’t have to write a teaching philosophy. And I’m planning on writing the latter. Not only does it sound like a more interesting challenge, it simply makes more sense. I’m probably not going to be teaching any time soon, nor have I taught in the last year. In fact, that’s the basis of my argument right there. Only 1,182 words to go!

In about an hour, I get to head down to Ankeny and pick up my new car! :) Fate has been trying really hard to prevent this from happening, but I think I’ve outsmarted her for now. First, the glove box broke. As in, it won’t open anymore, and it’s full of my stuff. I’m guessing this will bring down my trade-in value a tad. At least it complements my broken driver’s side door nicely. Next, someone in Illinois tried to buy my car, and I had to wait to see whether their financing would be approved before they could send the car my way (it wasn’t, but I had to wait an extra day to see if they could secure outside financing (they didn’t)). Then, this morning, my car’s battery was completely dead. Turns out I forgot and left the dome light on when I was trying to pry open the glove box earlier in the week. Dana and I had to make a trip to Wal-Mart for a pair of jumper cables. I used to own a pair, but I must’ve loaned them out somewhere and never got them back.

Dana’s birthday party is tonight, so I’m pretty excited about that. It should be a good time with a bunch of cool people, and that’s really the best way to spend a Friday evening.

A week from today is my graduation, followed (around 10pm or so) by my graduation reception/party/thinger. If I haven’t yet invited you personally, consider this an invitation. I’ve sent out a lot of paper invites, and I’ve invited some people via Facebook, and invited still others with a phone call or in person, but there’s still a decent chance I’m missing important people. And if you read my website, you’re probably pretty darn important, no?

Veishea weekend was fun and pleasantly uneventful in comparison to the last Veishea I attended. I wasn’t maced once this year! :) I spent Friday night in campustown attending the CD release party of Parallex, one of my favorite bands. I picked up their CD and a t-shirt. Afterwards, Dana, Kate, Lisa, Joe and I all headed to central campus to take part in the all-you-can-eat midnight pancake feast, but the line was several hundred people long and I decided cheap pancakes weren’t worth an hour-plus wait.

Saturday, Dana and I headed down to Karl Chevrolet to test drive a car. Specifically, a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt LT. I liked it, as I figured I would (I did about 10 hours of online research first). I went to the dealer with very detailed specs about what I wanted on the car. He didn’t have one, and after a search, discovered there wasn’t one like it within $250 miles. So I gave up on the pretty blue color I had picked out and went with the black instead, and there was one in Illinois he can have shipped our way. So, assuming a lack of financing snafus, I should have a new car by the end of the week! :) It’ll be my first new-new car, so I’m pretty excited. The payments are going to be high compared to what I have now, but it’ll be worth it if I don’t have to dread driving to and from work every day. It’s a 5-speed manual with lots of standard features (air, cruise, airbags, power windows/locks, etc) and a few fun extras like a spoiler, moonroof, and fantastic 7-speaker system from Pioneer (4 6×9″s, 2 tweeters in the front, and a 10″ sub in the trunk). I decided not to get the leather, as I couldn’t mentally justify the additional expense (plus black leather in a black car sounds painful in the summer), but I think it’ll still be a pretty spiffy ‘mobile.

I’m almost out of the woods as far as school goes. I’m starting to see the end. I’ve got a big project due yet this week which will make the next few days tough (especially now that I have a car to obsess over), but after that it’s all moving and graduating and having fun for a few days until I start the new job, which is still sounding great. Thus, today is a good day.