my new stick

that beauty you see above is my new stick. it's a nike/bauer vapor apollo composite one piece i bought from hockeygiant.com. actually, i didn't "buy" it per se, but i used my mom's credit card to purchase it in her stead as a christmas gift for me since she doesn't know what the internet is. the best part is that it came to my house today, but i can't use it. i have to give it to her so she can wrap it up and give it to me on christmas. i'm 29 years old.

it was $50-pretty low on the price range for composites. i've seen maybe one or two offered in the $30-$50 range, but most i see are upwards of $100. i'm not saying they're not worth the money-i'm sure they're very good sticks, but what happens when someone takes a hack at your $240 Warrior Dolomite and cracks the shaft? tears.


i had to open the box it came in, because inside was also a jersey-another xmas gift from mom-that i will have to use sometime before christmas. i sliced the box open and there it was, shrouded in only a thin plastic wrap so of course i did what any man would do. i took it out and started messing with it. first of all it's really lite. it's about as lite as the bauer one55 wood stick i use right now, but i would rank that one as one of the lightest i've used. it's got a decent 85 flex which increases in stiffness depending on where you cut the shaft. i've never used a composite stick before, but apparently there's something in the technology called a "kick point" . apparently a lower kick point means that the lower end of the shaft is doing alot of the work in taking a shot and it springs out quicker, resulting in a shorter release time. i hear this is good for wristers and snappers, but not so much for slap shots because the shaft can't load up as much energy as is required for those shots that require a longer release time. this is good for me because despite the fact that i've been playing defense lately, i have no slap shot, but definitely take more pride than is warranted in my wrist shot and snap shot.

by the way, hockeygiant's delivery was quick and accurate. i ordered my stick and a customized jersey on thanksgiving and got it today-the folowing wednesday. maybe fedex is just going extra hard to try and keep the customers they have in this turbulent economy.


so now that i've lost the two people that actually look at this blog, i'll talk about how much i can't wait to use it. my first game after christmas is the 28th. i'm getting all giddy just thinking about cutting it, taping it, waxing it, etc.

fuck.

so i typically try to avoid posts that involve anything really personal because no one wants to read that shit, but tonight i'm making an exception - i am somewhat bummed. it seems like i'm basically failing the two Linguistics classes that i'm taking. i got a "see me" note from the TA on my syntax homework, so i'm going in to her office tomorrow to figure out exactly what that means. i feel like i mostly understand the lectures/reading but when it comes to applying the knowledge in homework/test situations i flounder. i will talk to my TA tomorrow and see what i can do to pass the class.

my other LING class, phonology 1 is beating me up a little too. we took exam 2 today and i also did somewhat shitfully on that. looking back it really pisses me off because i know i had only myself to blame for my poor performance. i vaguely knew everything on that test, but had i studied for like an hour i could have kicked that test's ass. this is one of those instances where i would like to go back in time, slap the wine glass out of my hand and punch myself in the dick for being a dumbass.

fuck.

i'd like to now point out the irony in writing a blog post about not studying enough when i could be using that time to, like study.

goddammit

i have god damned jury duty tomorrow. i have to be there at fucking 7:30 in the morning. it's cool, jury duty, i don't have class and a ton of other shit to do before i go to work, no worries. i actually enjoy getting no sleep and missing classes that i'm already doing shitfully* in to drive to upper fucking marlboro. thanks jury duty. you son of a bitch.

anyway, so i plan to show up in my pajamas smelling like booze. this coupled with my loud phone talking and overt use of my ipod should probably get me off the hook. if these attempts prove futile, i'll have to go to plan B, which involves asking them if i can bring my crossbow into the building in a way that incorporates more racial slurs than normal.

seriously though, what the fuck? i guess it's sort of my fault. i mean, you've seen the way i look-i forget shit. i remembered to call them tonight at like 1, whereupon a pleasant computer voice told me my ass had to report...at 7:30. actually, good looks goes out to my sister. luckily i called her back and during our convo she mentioned something about her friend having to go to jury duty which reminded me of my impending civic duties. otherwise, by tomorrow evening i would probably be in jail or incurring some kind of ridiculous maryland fine for not showing up.

in reality, i will go dressed normal, not drunk or carrying medieval weapons of any kind. i will hate being there and think of other things i could be doing. i might get called and i might not. if i do, it may actually be interesting; if not, i will have had a good excuse for not going to class, i guess.


*shitfully is a word

a note about this post: when doing an image search for "jury duty" i came across alot of screenshots from a porn movie with that very name. my jury experience will not be like that movie.

another note: i have no idea why, but every time i went to spell "jury" it came out "juery".

nhl '09

a few weekends ago, i purchased NHL09 for the xbox 360. my love of hockey games (as well as my love of real hockey) has been kindled anew in the last few years, and EA's 2009 version of "the fastest game on ice" reinforces this passion. i had been playing the 2k series of hockey games in the last few years, but i have recently read some overwhelmingly positive reviews of '09. with thoughts of the caps' late season heroics, narrowly squeaking into the playoffs last year, and the promise of future glory in general, i went and picked it up. it is awesome. there are a lot of things i like about this game that set it apart from the 2k games of yore(last year), and a few gripes ( i guess).

the right stick

when controlling the puck, you use the right stick to do everything except pass. it is a little awkward at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's really nice. there is something to be said about bringing the puck up the ice on the rush, making a few dekes by going left to right on the R stick, and then pushing forward to shoot. it flows. it feels right after a while. shooting is especially sweet with the "aim" setting on "manual". many times i've shanked a wrister off the crossbar , getting a little over-zealous with the left stick, but sticking it over the goalie's catcher on a wraparound, with seconds remaining in the 3rd makes it all worth it.

hitting is done with the right stick as well (unless you choose NHL 94 control settings, chris, you pussy) . it definitely feels odd at first. but soft! taking control of shaone morrison as jonathan cheechoo tries to rush in on the wing and then DECIMATING him with a hip check into the boards becomes very satisfying, once mastered.

another note on the checking tip-injuries in this game seem to like, make sense, as opposed to the 2K games. in those, the injuries seemed arbitray, as if the designers were like "ok, there are injuries in this game, alex ovechkin will break his arm........now! (april)". no, in this game if someone who can hit absolutely destroys someone coming in with is head down, then chances are, that person will be injured. let me re-phrase that. someone will only be injured if it is deserved. this is good, because since i really enjoy the hitting aspect, i will have the confidence that my many attempts to injure opposing star players may actually be rewarded with their subsequent injuries.

'be a pro' mode

this is a cool new feature where you can take control over the career of an existing player in the nhl, or you can create your own future-star and dictate his career-path. in the latter, you start off in the system of your favorite nhl team. this mode is particularly cool. you design your own player and play as him on a farm team. the idea is that you gain XPs which enable you to boost your skill ratings, and you get advice from the coach as to what you're doing wrong/right. if your on-ice performance makes the coaches happy, then you make it to the show( i haven't). what i really like about this is how it makes you feel like an individual player on a team. when your fatigue level gets to a certain point, you sit on the bench and watch. you have no other choice but to sit and root for your team until your energy is charged back up to 'green' and you're ready to call for a change-the feeling of camaraderie ensues.

the one nitpick i would have is the lack of character customization this game offers. you have but a few faces to choose from when creating a player (two white guys, two asian guys, two black guys*, etc.). i wish 09 afforded the customization offered in the EA Fight Night games. it would give me great satisfaction to see one of the freakshows i could create in FN skatin around in a caps jersey. and the hairstyles...seriously? it's 2008, motherfuckers! i want to see a plethora of hairstyles in my create-player module.

anyway, besides that, this game is awesome. what really makes it good is the AI. the defense adapts to your offense, so unlike the 2k games, you can't just take the puck up off the breakout and have a breakaway every time. you have to think about your plays. puck movement is necessary to open up the D and have a scoring lane emerge. this adds depth and makes the game more fun in the long-run. i also like how dion phaneuf is on the cover.

my new haircut

let me lead this post off by saying that yes, i know it is like three weeks in the making-sorry. the beginnings of this post coincided with the start of the school semester, so most of my time has been spent doing schoolwork, being at school, being at work or getting hammered and reading "lord of the rings " again.






so last friday i got my hair cut. i have had at least moderately long hair for about the last four or five years, and for the most part have enjoyed all that having long, luxurious locks has entailed, but from time to time i have enjoyed a trim here, a shape up there, etc. hmm, now i sound like a girl. anyway, so friday i got my haircut. i didn't feel right taking my glorious mane to an actual barber shop, and salons cost too much. i know a few people who cut hair, but they have either moved away, or are just not available on such short notice. i'm impulsive when it comes to these things-i'll ruminate on an idea like getting a haircut for a while, then one day just do it. i had to have it done that way, and thus i ended up at the hair cuttery. i've gone to the one 'round my way a few times, and have maybe had a 50% success rate. this latest visit has brought the success rate down. i told her to trim down the back and sides, and get rid of alot of the bulk back there while shaping my shit up. my hair is curly and armenian (thanks dad), and thus gets MASSIVE when long. fouzia decided that the best way to do this was to chop off a few inches off the the lower part of the back and sides of my then-awesome mane, and to layer it and give it "a nice shape". i looked in the mirror after she had "finished", and sure enough, it looked OK. my hair was wet and matted at the time, so it appeared that everything came out as planned; maybe a bit shorter than i wanted. my hair tends to poof out as it dries, so things changed a little while after i got home. the hair in the back indeed poofed out, accentuating the lack of blending between the lengths of the longer and shorter hairs and thus framed my face like a little dutch boy. the night of kevin's 42nd birthday party, many comparisons of my haircut were made to the hair styles of historical figures and other celebrities of similar caliber. most of them don't really work, but i will list a few here:

marco polo










hmm...while i admit i'll probably look like this when i'm around 60 or 70, this dude's hair is actually closer to what i have now-sometimes referred to as the "white-guy ramp".







christopher columbus


actually, this is pretty close, minus the baldness going on on top. this is one of the only pics i could find of him where he's not wearing some type of asinine hat, surely a mark of nobility in his time.











prince valiant/the little lord fauntleroy


this is a classic, and possibly the most assy comparison yet made to my then-hairstyle.

i'm tired of making all these comparisons, and it has taken me like 3 weeks to finish this post. at last i shall unveil the haircut i had for less than 24 hours...



now that the pictures are positioned as they are, the prince valiant, minus the bangs is pretty damn close. as i said, i had this haircut for less than a day. during those 24 hours, my hair spent its time in either a bandanna or ponytail...some type of apparatus designed to conceal the lack of craftsmanship that it had endured.

it looked normal, so i wasn't immediately infuriated, but lo, as the dawn arrived and my hair poofed out more and more, i got mopey and tired of looking like a dumbass. i decided to get a real haircut. i went to bart's.

this place seemed cool enough; it's in laurel and it looked like a barber shop. i honestly hadn't been to a real barber in years. i immediately sat down in "Laura" 's chair and she was cool. she started talking to me; asking me if i lived in town, what i did, etc. this was comforting and made me think of that greek dude who used to cut my hair in kensington, not that she resembled a middle aged greek dude in any way, but i just don't remember having anything resembling a decent conversation at hair cuttery, goddammit. she cut my hair way too short (at least it felt like it at the time), but the haircut was a very-well crafted one. laura was sweet and knows her onions*. after like 6 more hours of moping at the loss of my long, gorgeous locks whose beauty shan't soon be matched, i welcomed the new haircut and accepted the fact that change was a long time coming. this is now what i sort of look like:





"You no like-a my new haircut?! I smacka you face!"



the hair cuttery can't be all that bad though, if alex ovechkin now endorses them.





*i added this idiom simply due to the fact that it was in the thesaurus under "able".

motorcycle update

so it's been a few months now-the summer is in the winter of its days, so to speak, and peak motorcycle riding time is quickly coming to an end. "well, surely you've spent most of the summer riding your newly rebuilt project-bike, right davy?" NO. making a 26 year old motorcycle ride again is hard. i spent many hours and late nights painting, torquing, bleeding, lubing, revving, planning, crying etc. and still i have a motorcycle that is not quite road ready. i write this blog largely as a reaction to another blog. kevin wrote a blog about his friends' lack of blogging. you know, i would really like to blog pretty regularly, but i just don't find that i have enough blog-worthy material to blog a decent blog regularly. but i digest. motorcycle. so i have made progress. it is now painted a metallic black. clearly not flawless, but considering i've never painted anything automotive before it came out pretty decent. after revisiting the youtube video from my last post of the girl riding my exact bike in the factory paint i've decided that my bike looks way more badass now, in metallic black and without the honda stripes/"nighthawk" decals (apparently pronounced "deckles" if you're canadian). i got the fork seals done at heyser. i finally got the rear sprocket that it seems NO One had in stock and i put that on the rear wheel, as well as replacing the front sprocket; the installation of which is still somewhat confusing to me. i also repacked the muffler, which had absolutely no packing in it. i don't know if it had just gotten blown out over the years or what, but anyway, re-packing the silencer was cheap and easy-refreshing. my current problem is installing the new chain. with the chain tool that Anders lent me, i can't seem to figure out which one of the attachments accepts my ZJ type master link. i plan on getting up early tomorrow morning and taking another run at this problem. hopefully i didn't ruin the chain by torquing the pins in too hard. luckily, you can purchase master links separately. i think dan is going to bring the trailer by saturday morning so we can go get her inspected. i imagine then, it will start ruling.

motorcycle boy lives

i bought a motorcycle. it's something i wanted to do many years ago, but at the time i hadn't neither time, nor money to invest in this dream. a few months ago i was in baltimore driving to my band's practice space when i saw a few motorcycles parked on the sidewalk. a switch went off in my brain...one of the bikes was perfect for me, i thought. a late 70s, or early 80s japanese standard that wasn't too big. so that set the little wheels turning-i have the time and the money these days, so why not?

after leaving the dreaming phase of this quest and entering the reality leg, i began searching craigslist for my bike. a few looked good but by the time i made a move they were sold. one seemed perfect but alas-no title. finally after a few fruitless weeks i found an intriguing ad. i think the headline was like "honda 450-$500" and all that was written in the body was "good starter".. i frantically replied to this ad twice before getting a response saying that it was the owner's wife who put up the ad and she had forgotten it was posted. it was an 82 honda nighthawk 450 with 22000 miles, but it looked like it was in pretty good shape. anyway, long story short, i went out to see it, talked the guy down to $400 (dude was really cool, by the way-always nice to deal with decent folk on craigslist), had my buddy dan tow it back home and there you have it. she doesn't quite "run" yet, but i might cry the first time i hear that motor roar and like not cut out. here are things that i have done/need to do to get the bike running.

done:
-rebuilt/cleaned the carbs. this task seemed surprisingly easy. i hope i did it right.
-de-rusted/coated the fuel tank. it's got a little pinhole in it that after coating seems to still exist. i plan to get some more KREEM and try to puddle it up on the spot that has the leak. if this doesn't work, it might be time to shell out $240 and buy a new tank.

need to do:
-during the whole de-rusting process i seriously fucked up the paint on the tank. i wanted to at least wait till i had some riding time under my belt and felt confident about not dropping the bike before i did any respraying, but i think the bubbling, bare metal paint job isn't really that cool, so the respraying will have to take place before i put the tank back on for the first time. i'm thinking war-bonnet yellow as per a suggestion by my dude brodie. but you know, i'm limited by what auto zone has in shitty spray cans, so we'll see.
-fork seals...the right fork has oil up and down the upper shaft so i'm assuming the seal is fucked
-chain/sprockets-according to the indicator on the swing-arm it's time to replace the chain. sucky, but i have friends with knowledge/power tools

anyway, so me and my pal topher took the msf ridercourse and got our licenses, so it's pretty much going to be sweet. i just need to get her running before the summer is over. here's a video of my exact bike in its original factory paint. i'll post pics of the progress on mine soon...

fast food

i really like food. this is kind of a problem when you're trying to eat sensibly, but still-it's hard to cook a healthy meal for yourself every day when you have a busy life. thus, i, like many others, tend to eat out alot more than i should/want to. that being said, i will now discuss a few trends in the fast food world that have recently piqued my interest.



The BACONATOR



according to reliable internet sources, almost a third of people living in the U.S. are obese. in response to this alarming statistic, Wendy's decided to unleash upon the public, the leviathon known as "The Baconator". among the weapons in its arsenal are two 1/4 pound patties, two slices of american cheese, mayo(of course), and 6(SIX) slices of bacon. as if simply hearing the list of ingredients alone weren't enough to make you cry, this arterial terror delivers a punishing 840 calories with 23g saturated fat and 2.5 g of trans fat. holy shit. i actually had one of these a few months back. we were in a bar in arlington, and after last call we drunkenly decided to go to wendy's. from the back seat of brigitte's car i craned my neck in an attempt to locate my reliable number 2, big bacon classic value meal, but lo and behold it was not there. in its place, was the mighty Baconator; its massive, backlit form looming above. probably saying something like "fuck it, you only live once!" and with alcohol clouding my judgement, i ordered. i'll admit, it was tasty, but several bites in i was like "dude, i can't finish this motherfucker". not in the sense that it was impossible to do so, but more in the sense that i shouldn't finish it, given my innate sense of self-preservation. i don't recall who won that epic battle that night(probably Baconator), i can't remember a whole lot after my blood stopped moving and i started seeing things.


burger king's genius marketing team





the photograph above is a screenshot depicting a man being awaken by the burger king "king" who hands him a breakfast sandwich on a silver platter. this is just one sample of burger king's recent trend of having awesome commercials. i could post man, many pictures and videos, but for the sake of being concise, i will only put up a few videos, and try to explain why they're so good.





the king is such a giant ass. the fact that he has that perpetual smile makes it much better than if he were making any other facial expression. apparently, his assiness transcends time, for in the future, he is also a gigantic ass.

i have actually eaten the sandwich in this ad, and it's good. it does get old quickly though. the first time i ate it i thought it was delicious. the second time i made a quick stop in for a coffee and a little something before my 10a.m. class. it was tasty going down, but by 10:40, the honeymoon was over, and it had run through my system like Patton through north Africa.





the latest creations to be birthed from those amazing minds at burger king feature a new menu item, and someone really wanting it. this concept is really funny to me.


taco bell is awesome

i have nothing specific, or any recent memories that would be impetus to me writing about taco bell, but since fast food is the theme of this post, i have to say, taco bell is indeed awesome. it's cheap, quick, mexican and delicious. they also offer one of my favorite go-to purchases. the consistently delicious spicy chicken burrito.




somehow, tb managed to take something that costs like 35 cents to make, sell it to me for $1.29, and have me think that it tastes like it should cost 5 dollars. i am never let down by the flavor or value of this item, and it always reminds me of why i decided to make a run for the border. ¡que rico!, taco bell. me gusta.

winter break update

as i stated in my last blog, (which was, by the way, posted a ridiculously long time ago. my bad, kevin.) i had a few goals for my then-upcoming winter break. at this juncture, late in february, i think i've done a decent job of keeping up with most of my shit. since like three people read this, i will have no problem with going on about how awesome i am at accomplishing things.

i have no idea in what order these goals originally appeared (despite the fact that there were only three), but to save me the arduous task of clicking the "view blog" button once, i'll start here...

1. get in shape/exercise

so ok, i've been wanting to shed a few pounds. sometimes i think it's vanity. other times i realize that my jeans won't go on anymore, and that certain shirts no longer button. i made a lateral move at my job this past september that put me in a position where i'm performing alot less manual labor. as a result, i've been alot less stressed out, but i now get significantly less daily exercise and thus the extra pounds-hence the nature of goal #1. it got off to a rocky start, but in the last few weeks i've been doing bicycle sprints semi-regularly at the gym at school, and my bag is all packed up for a session of pick-up hockey tomorrow morning.

prognosis: positive


2. sign up for drum lessons

"it takes but a phone call to accomplish this task, david." indeed. indeed. but, as some of you may know, i am very very lazy. so, at times, a task as simple as "making a call" can be indomitable when the thought of it enters my brain. alas, i've overcome these weird odds and have now had 5(?) drum lessons, which have actually proved very useful in increasing my hand speed and control, and learning basic, foundation-building rudimentary exercises. you can check out my progress in this video:



prognosis: positive


3. record folk/whatever album

hmmm. this one never seems to get done when i mean to; i usually just end up feeling like recording something one day and then i do it...or i just think up awesome ideas that sometimes become realized.

prognosis: negative

well, i set out to master ableton live 6 a few days ago and i already know more than i used to, so it can't be considered a total failure.

so in summary, i feel like my new year's resolution/winter break goals have been successful up to this point in the year. here's a picture of our developmentally disabled dog Mongo.