I need no excuse.

I have watched more preseason football this year than all other years of my life combined. I now recognize most offensive players when I watch a game. I can also tell you their injury history, 2003 play time, favorite food, and their hooker preferences. If only teachers could harness the power of fantasy leagues to teach.

I enjoyed my stint in Nashville but now I'm back home again. The area around Vanderbilt reminded me very much of Decatur.

Another bonus about the football league is that I've been in more frequent contact with my brother. He's been playing in this fantasy football league for about 6 or 7 years now. It's nice that we can bond over "gambling".

Is it just me, or does Martin's relationship seem to be on the gifted kids track? I believe I am missing the backstory of the building blocks placed before the great road trip.

Here is an enjoyable halloween link for those of you with the secret children you've been hiding from me. Dress 'em nice.

Well, it certainly seems like mikex0r has the plague alright. No one has posted in the past few days. I have my excuse, I went to visit Chowning in Athens and there wasn't a connection easily accessible. What's your excuse??

Speaking of excuses, I bet Mark has a lame one for why he hasn't posted whatever has been going on in his life recently. I know the skinny because he lives here for all intents and purposes (and we're fine with that), but I told him to tell you guys and he hasn't yet. Stupid crack addiction, it takes up all of his time.

Let's see, what else is new. Cobb county fucking sucks. That's not true. It isn't anything against Cobb county itself, but more the public school systems because they make me go through all of this paperwork bullshit. I doubt I will be at the school next year, it is simply getting in the way of my teaching too much.

Then there is the distinct possibility that Chowning and I will move to Nashville at the end of the school year. I think each of us has had enough with the whole not living together thing. But there is still a long way to go in the school year, and much has the potential to change if need be. If/when we move I'll have to get a new job, which means that I will have to look for one, which means that I WONT limit myself to only teaching jobs. I'll cruise the market the way that I did before, but hopefully with more success now that I have some teaching under my belt. Nashville is and interesting town. Not quite big enough or with enough diversity for my taste, though I doubt Chowning and I would stay there for too long. Her parents live there and I think she doesn't want to live too close or too far away from them. I'd rather move to Chicago, Boston, NY, Miami, San Fran, Seattle, any of the big cities, but Nashville would allow me to continue playing for Rival for at least one more year, and that is a good thing.

Ack, I'm fucking tired. I'm going to go sip on some caffene and watch cartoons until Aqua Teens comes on. Out.

M

I have the plague

We should come up with a way of keeping track of the statistics for this blog, so that I could say something like "The blog hasent been this dead since everyone had the plague." Or I could just blog something worthwhile.

TMBG, Variety Playhouse, Saturday 9/25 8:30 PM $20

Just in case you've been on Mars, in a cave with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears.

Teehee, Brad's getting into football. That is going to make this fall SOOOOO much more interesting. So Brad, what do you think about the Bengals chances to make it to the play-offs given that they seem to want to start Carsom Palmer and Marvin Lewis has yet to get his defense to play well?

In other news . . . there isn't really other news. I love my girlfriend more and more everyday. Got to see her this morning as she flew in from Seattle. Picked her up at 5:30, then took her to her car and said our goodbyes since she had to go to school and I had to go to work. I get to see her again wednesday when I will be going to Athens to visit Chowning. Sigh, I think I'm just ready to move in with her.

Oh, and I think I'm getting the hang of this teaching thing, I'll actually have time for crack if Mark ever gets home.

M

huh... what? oh, I just nodded off for a second man. I'm cool. Nothing to see here.

I completed my first "live action" fantasy football draft today. I met up with my brother and some of his friends at Bailey's Pub and Grill up here in Gwinnett. There were a total of 14 people participating and besides starting a little late the whole event went off great. The organizers made a big poster printout to keep track of the draft picks. To keep up with who was drafted we used color coded (by position) stickers with the player's names printed on them. Players were chosen, some insults were thrown, and I think the phrase, "Good pick. Good pick" was uttered at least 100 times. I'm hoping to bring home the $1200 first place cash prize. Sundays are now reserved for football.

While I'm on the subject of sports. I'd just like to laugh about our pitiful US Olympic Basketball team. All done.

Slackers.

Matt also forgot to make that link work the first time he posted that shit.

In other news, Metal Slug 3 has become the new Obsessive Compulsive game of the month. WIth 1040 hostages to rescue in a whopping 5 stages there is alot to do. It doesn't help that everytime you die you lose the hostages you freed. So basically we have to go through each level, and beat it, without dying (sp?). Not to mention that there are alternate paths that you can take that get you different hostages. Oh, and then there is the fact that we can't even get to the boss on the 5th level. This game fucking rocks. I'm also getting sucked into Mario and Luigi Superstar as a bedtime treat. That will no doubt change when Chowning is back in town (25 hours and counting). Speaking of which, have I mentioned that I have the best girlfriend in the world. Everything she does is so perfect its insane. Oh, and she wants Brad out of her city . . . and in the processes says hi to him.

I think that is it. Back to work.

M

i forgot that i was uploading a photo gallery of the rockies:
how's the view from mountain heaven, bitch?

enjoy!

[h4x0r3d by ted]

it's true that i'm in bumbledebumble salina, kansas.
it's also true that i suck and didn't tell ted shit until just last night.

i lobbied hard to stop and see the world's largest prarie dog yesterday, but we decided to press on to see a movie. we tried oakley, kansas, but their theatre only shows on fridays, sats, and sundays. then we tried hays, kansas, but we were 15 minutes late. finally, we arrived late in salina, kansas... too tired to go to the movies. but there is bandwidth! holiday inn express rules. i'm so proud to say i set up a network bridge in winXP so ian's laptop, which does not have wireless, could bridge through my laptop's wireless via cat5 cable for net access.

unfortunately, this means our dork asses are late for getting on the road to hot springs national park today. all because we have bandwidth and good coffee. and just think, if i had purchased doom3 yesterday, i would be smiting ian right now. too bad i am poor. anyone else get it / download it? i need a hookup.

as for road news:
vegas was sweet. we didn't give those bastards a penny. the one nightclub in the world using interactive projection like playmotion wouldn't let me in because i didn't have the right shoes. bastards. roxanne, of course, being a girl infiltrated and reverse engineered their shit for me.

zion had a great trail through the narrows / canyon involving walking knee deep through a stream. incredible.

bryce was sweet. so was the 6 pack.

canyonlands was the land of illegal camping and rock art. no beer unfortunately, but mystical rock art.

arches was crowded but those arches are so damn bizarre and seemingly impossible!

nobody is dead. roxanne has yet to roll an ankle thanks to her fancy new boots.

we'll be back saturday. signing off from kansas.

While i am not disagreeing with the fact that i am, in fact, full of shit, i don't think you read my post. If she's in a different area code or more than 2 hours away, that's a LDR. i didn't know she lived in athens, which is totally not a LDR from atlanta. i think you need a cold shower or something. CAN A NIGGA GET A LAP DANCE?

So Matt Flagg finally called me from Salinas, Kansas last night to let me know they weren't gonna make it to chicago. It's true that chicago is a few hundred miles out of the way from a LA -> ATL run and may require you to drive through such states as Iowa or Indiana.

that's my story.

Martin, you just dont realize how much Tech cares about you. They dont want you to get soft. For me, they hired goons to come to my house everyday and knock me down and kick me in the ribs. And I, for one, appreciate this. Well, actually I'm lying. I'm a big fat liar. I wish I wasnt such a damn liar.

As I've previously stated to various people who read this blog, (they shall remained anonymous to protect their anonymity) I think (ok it was Martin) that there needs to be gaming this friday, the 13th. And possibly drinking. but most importantly, a game of some sort, in video or board form.

Ted you're full of shit, just because someone is in a different areacode does not make it an LDR. Distance is the key factor in an LDR. Chowning is NOT in Nashville anymore, she is headed back to UGA to finish her degree. Athens is around 1:30 travel time from atlanta, and that's going slow. If I cen get to my girlfriend in under 2 hours it falls into the category of something I am stupid enough to do everynight and that means it isn't an LDR. It makes weekends much easier than a 4 hour jaunt to Nashville. Hopefully you have now seen the error in your ways and understand that this isn't an LDR. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather be in the same city as her, and can't wait to get the chance next summer, but this doesn't feel like an LDR.

In other news, Tech fucking hates me. They have found a new way to drag out my masters degree, making this the start of 4 years and running now and they still wont give it to me. The reasoning this time is that my GPA dropped to a 2.9. I understand the integrity involved behind their choiceto deny my degree petition. The funny thing is that they currently won't let me enroll in any classes in order to get my GPA higher. The issue will be fixed at some point, but they are going to make me take at least one more class in order to get my degree, maybe even two. This is going to be hard to do since I have myself a job now. Sigh, Ma Tech is a bitch and I don't like her anymore.

M

i've been calling it Nashvegas for years now. it's not my fault you don't hang around me anymore. there are no casinos that i know of, but they do have the Dolly Parthenon and the World's Largest Adult Bookstore. oddly enough, they didn't have any books, but i think the wide variety of magazines, whips, vibratory implements and novelty inflatable farm animals made up for it.

perhaps I live a sheltered life but I just recently heard the term Nashvegas to describe the fine city of Nashville. In fact, it was Monday afternoon. Now Ted has used the very same term. Are there casinos in Nashville or something? Perhaps I should peak out of the window of my office building.

Has anyone heard anything out of the Matt/Rox/Ian roadtrip crew? Does anyone have a cell phone number for any of them?

Mike, congrats on both your second interview and the 500th post to the fortress blog. Hopefully this will mean bling and blowjobs in the forseeable future.

Martin, i hate to piss in your cornflakes, but if you and yer special lady live 1. in different area codes or 2. more than 2 hours apart, you're in a LDR. Was i incorrect to infer that she lives in Nashvegas? Perhaps that was a temporary housing thing.

I'm using a bootlegged copy of Matlab from Mike at work and daaaaamn dogg it is tits-on perfect.

i miss martin's girlfriend as well.

i also just ate some really good cookies. mmm... cookies!

True Ted, long distance relationships DO suck . . . but this isn't one. She's just in Mexico . . . laying on the beach . . . in a fancy resort . . . for a week . . . while I'm wearing a tie to work everyday and waking up at 6. Since it is only a week, and then she is back in the ATL for a few days on route to Athens I don't consider this a long distance relationship.

Ted is also right about the link.

And I'm estatic to be back at work, despite the fact that it suck waking up so early.

Aside from that there isn't much to say.

I miss my girlfriend.

M

Today, I had my second interview with CNN. It lasted from 10:30 till about 1:30, and they still didnt buy me lunch, those cheap bastards. Things look good, job-prospect-wise, and CNN is a good company to work for. There are also advantages such as: getting paid, being able to take marta to work, getting paid, and all the CNN I can watch. mmmmm. Cable news.

Also, Carolyn will be getting back in town from her stint as a coop in savannah, so that'll be two things going my way this week. Hopefully somebody'll give me a job by the end of the week as well. (CNN, I'm looking in your direction)

Michael

Matt, you suck. Fucking call me at work (708.672.2350) or on my cell phone (773.520.9398) or at home (773.737.4693) if you still have some desire to stay at my house. I'd love to see y'all but i'm a busy motherfucker and need to know when you're intending on arriving and leaving.

Mark, you also suck. Read your damn email sometime and respond to things.

Everyone else is party of happy funtime playbody best lucky family dragon joy list perfecture. Brad, I have taken on the duties as the QA jammie for my division as well as stepping into the role as a field engineer if that opportunity arises all on top of still being a product engineer. Martin, i think you meant this instead of that broke-assed link you posted. Also, trust me, i know how bad the Long Distance Relationship can be. Ugh. (lesson learned: keep it in your area code)

damn. i suck. one day soon i will write the GIGANTIC POST OF DOOM.

but not today.

today i will say that in addition to not being allowed to wear clothes at the whitehouse, you also have to have a barium enima and send

• a letter explaining just exactly what the fuck you're doing at the whitehouse and
  
• one pound of your flesh
  

to your congressman before they'll let you in. of course all of that has to be done six months in advance and in triplicate (that's three pounds of flesh for those keeping score at home).

just so you can be jealous ted... training consisted of about 12 hours (non-consecutive over two days) of power point presentations on such topics as "Patient Access Overview", "Denial Management", and my personal favorite, "Charge Master Basics and the Importance of Charge Capture". The material covered is potentially useful for my day to day work so it was definitely worthwhile, albeit rather like chewing lots of crackers with nothing to drink.

I just got back from a wedding in Paducah, KY. Lots of drunk women, young and old, were to be found. A good time was had by all. The happy couple "drove" away in a '55 chevy something or other. A nicely restored classic car. It would have been sweet but the engine wouldn't turn so the groomsman pushed it halfway to the hotel. That was only about a quarter of a mile because the hotel was probably about half a mile away from the reception area. Apparently I've been tagged to be the next to get married from my non-fortress circle of friends so we can all have a reason to get together next year. Looks like I'm gonna have to take one for the team. If anyone has any strong candidates let me know.

I'm sorry to hear that Chowning isn't in Nashville for a while. I'll be there for two more weeks and I was hoping I would get to track her down.

I'll be going up to Washington DC this upcoming weekend to visit Jim Whitehead and etc. and to take my first tour of the White House. I believe the current policy is that you have to show up naked with picture ID to be able to go on the tour.

Well I'm glad to see that road-posting is alive and well. And here we were concerned about the geographic distribution of posts since people are now recongregating back to ATL.

School starts tomorrow, Monday, and while I was very excited to get back for a long time, now I am filled with worry. I get pretty stressed during the school year at times, mainly because I don't have a boss to tell me what to do. I have to figure out all of the physics stuff to teach on my own. I guess that has changed a bit this year, with the addition of another physics teacher, but still, all of the day to day stuff is me, which means that if it sucks it is a reflection of my failure as a human being. On top of the normal stress from that I now have the additional issues of having to balance the season (not to mention the inability to play) and finding a way to spend all the time I want to spend with Chowning. Oh, and I forgot to mention Ma Tech fucking me up the ass again. Holy shit this is going to be an interesting fall.

All the same, I'm not as bad off as I could be. This relationship with Chowning is easily the best thing that has happened to me. It may not be as formative (yet) as the summer of '96, but I've never been as happy as I am, through as much shit as is going down, for as long as this has been going on, before (how's that for a poorly constructed sentence?). It really is nice to have someone that cares for you. It is something that I have missed for a long time. Sigh, and I wont get to see her for a week. She's in Denver right now playing, and will be in Mexico all next week while I'm trying to shape young minds or some shit like that. Grrr, I want my girlfriend back!!!

By the way, check out Graffitti Fonts for Word.

M

matt, you fucking slacker. you coulda just emailed me when you posted to the blog. i hope y'all have fun biking and snorting coke off hookers' tits in vegas. i don't forsee any problem with y'all crashing here on the 11th - we've got a guest bedroom and a futon besides that, so no tents will be necessary. we can probably work out some sort of exchange program if y'all help clean up a lil bit around here for use of laundry facilites and such. be warned that the 11th is nikki's birthday so we might go out for dinner or something. she also had her appendix out yesterday but is doing well recuperating at home.

i'll try and hit up someone's cell when i get around to it - i think i still have ian's cell number. email me (ted at thedomainivehadforafewyearsnow . org) if you read this and i haven't been able to get in touch with you by sunday.

crap. it's quarter 'til four and i have to go to work tomorrow. spending all night in the emergency room sure does fuck with yr sleep schedule.

brad, what sort of training hejaz are you up to? martin, how's the knee? congrats on your special lady. if she meets mark's standard of excellence, i'm sure everything is going well with y'all.

mikex0r i as well noticed the non-updating status jammie with firefaux before but it seems to be working fine now (at least from my work machine. me no gusta windows at home.)

greetings from compton!
actually, roxy and i are just down the street from compton here at ian's summertime residence in LA (manhattan beach). we are embarking on our west --> east drive this afternoon, starting with the mgm grand in vegas. our plan is to then head on to zion, canyonlands, bryce, arches (moab), rocky mtn natl park, and then straight over to chicago. ted, i still haven't properly emailed you to let you know that we'll be on by around the 11th and would love to say hello and perhaps even pitch a tent in your backyard if floorspace is na.

jeremy and i spent last weekend at transformus, an incredible burning man event that i'm sure all of you have heard us talk about at some point or another. anyhow, the highlights of that were running around on missions to get cheesecake, cigars, and solving they mystery of the stranger by albert camus as jeremy and i became detectives in the night, complete with tuxedos. that is a long long story that i hope to properly write up sometime soon. another highlight was seeing the masses play with playmotion, which ran off a generator in the middle of the woods.

i'll try to send in updates to the blog as we make our trek. it may be tough without david cantrell's trusty trail terminal 2089. before leaving for vegas, we're gonna *not* kill ourselves on a brief mountain biking trip in the hills overlooking the city this morning.

roger roger

Well I was in Cleveland during the end of last week for work related training. I now have a giant manual of information as a souvenir. I went rafting on the Okoee river Saturday and camped out at the High Country Outfitters campsites. I developed an RSI from too much D2 and too little proper ergonomic mousing. I guess it's good that I'm on the road again. Currently I'm in Nashville, later this week Dallas, Paducah KY this weekend. I may even be able to string out three consecutive weeks on the road without going home. But probably not.

I liked Unbreakable more than Signs, but that might of been because of Samuel L. Jackson's hair. My backlog of movies to see grows greater by the day.

Carolyn and I saw 'The Village' on Saturday.... I dont really want to say too much, because his movies are best when you go in not knowing anything about it. But I will rank the 4,
IMO
1. Sixth Sense
2. The Village
3. Signs
4. Unbreakable

In other news, I have a job interview next week... with CNN, which has its pros and cons. But I'll see what they have to say.