Listen up

Poker

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:07:18 GMT

I will never be an amazing poker player. I read people fine. I can figure the odds well enough. But i hate losing money.

fuck money is the point

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:32:05 GMT

I'm going to workout tonight. At a gym. And do laundry. And hopefully watch TV with my special lady friend Val. See, things aren't all bad.

Life, the game.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:47:35 GMT

I sit here, currently in pain. But not bad pain, that will come later, tomorrow once what has happened sinks in. It will build till such a point where i will be unable to contain myself, the crying will be heard. Heard through out the city, perhaps state, but for sure the internet. This pain, it's not common pain, at least not common for me.

To explain: i worked out. For the first time in many, many years. Honest workout, at a gym, for more than 15 minutes. Can't remember the last time this happened. Nope, really can't. For sure in high school, but after sophomore year nothing. Dating a girl i like changes a man i guess. I'm probably getting a Y membership tomorrow, or when Val's free guest passes run out. Life change #1

#2. I'm going back to school. By this time tomorrow Metro State University will have accepted my application, especially if they know what is good for them. (or they process my fucking transcripts) Probably going for business MGMT or computer things. More likely computer networking but who the hell really knows, not i. I'm going to take a class, 2 at most for the spring semester and come next fall kick the shit into high gear and take a full load. Val said she would walk me to the bus each morning, boom score.

8+ months without smoking. #3

ill try and finish the final couple of points soon but thats a good start. life is on the up and up

Gus

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:58:02 GMT

In response to you writing that last personal professional essay i offer this to you.

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have

been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more

efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban

refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot

bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute

Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and

an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended

a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I

play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous

documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard.

I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical

appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics

worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't

perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been

caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New

Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My

deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles.

Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I

once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and

still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the

exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed

several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep,

I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated

with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of

physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On

weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago

I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made

extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I

breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving

competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played

Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

madison

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:36:26 GMT

not having fun. Didnt get drunk last night when i arrived at 130am. Farmers market wasnt fun.

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:28:37 GMT

i was told today to blog. i didn't think that anyone cares.

not having a bathroom on the same floor of a building you are on when drinking is annoying at best.

brb

i was trying to think of something to blog about all day but came up short. i realized that my entertaining thoughts are much more spontaneous than sit down and type something. plus my shitty memory regals me to whatever is foremost on my mind and not something i thought of earlier in the day.

Here. My blogging used to come easier. I used to have serious bad problems to sort out. car wreck, losing a job, being a pathetic WoW addict and quitting smoking, but the truth is that i don't have things serious enough to bitch about anymore. I have a great girl now, and i have nothing to complain about on the girl front for the first time in years. I have tho realized the mistakes made in previous relationships, but fuck if i want to get into those right now.

My landlord is probably pretty pissed with my overall volume right now due to two factors, i'm getting drunker as the minute goes by and her bed is directly beneath this computer. last laugh, kate? whatever, the artists are beta band (mellow as a frog in winter (aka quiet (aka dead) ) ) and the milder new pornagraphers songs.

My job is a mild source of bitching, but lets break it down. i have a job, first. Second, it's managing a pet fish store. Third, who gives a shit, i talk to people about pet fish all day and get paid for it, very little pressure. I get paid shitty but i work a hobby job, in a recession.

So fuck you. You wanted a blog, this is what i offer. It's not much, it might entertain for 5 minutes, but i'm satisfied with it right now. Haaaaaaaaaaaay, later.

a final read of this makes me disappointed in what truly came out, it's quite disjointed and with no purpose, end thought.
ill try to blog more soon and actually make this entertaining, because i'm now annoyed with me hitting post.

Gus, at least i'm coming to see you this weekend and am fucking stoked.

Biking

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:20:30 GMT

is the new cool for me. Fuck running, fucking lifting weights and feeling sore as hell for multiple days, fuck running, swimming, youre cool but only for relaxation purposes.

I love biking now and am going to be proper pissed off come winter when i can't anymore. I get a workout and go someplace without increasing my carbon footprint, aka spend money on gas and oil. wtf am i going to do in the winter? Ski to work? dog sled? snow shoe? fuck i hate the midwest right now and it's the middle of summer.

Side note i'm in a awesome relationship and plan to be this way at least until Gordon Ramsey or Anthony Bourdain take me away to paradise, no homo.

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:46:21 GMT

If i didn't have to sit at a pc and blog i would blog more, alas.

biking

Sat, 16 May 2009 01:30:13 GMT

Biking is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better when you have a good bike seat.

Made the trip to work today, via pedal power woooo. 12 mile round trip, i feel better about myself.

Things i accomplished today

Thu, 14 May 2009 22:08:23 GMT

Woke up after sleeping 12 hours, excuse: getting over a cold. Feels good to finally get as much sleep as i need.

Made a breakfast of champs. Omelet with 6yr aged cheddar and diced jalapenos, sausage, potato wedges and toast with some fresh OJ to wash it down.

Cleaned 3 fish tanks, and by cleaned i mean removed 10% of the water in each and replaced it while vacuuming the gravel, also scraped the algae off the walls.

Biked to an Eriks bike shop to buy a new saddle. I went in asking for a bike seat, and when the employee came right back with "oh, saddle?" i instantly thought, did i just walk into some indie underground coffee shop and ask for a venti latte to deserve that, no i didn't, so bikers can be assholes too i guess. (5 mile ride round trip)

On the way home i stopped at some 4 different garage sales and the last one yielded the treasure i sought, a sweet axe, to chop wood with, OBV. 3 dollars, what a steal.

Was then informed by old ass neighbor that when i came home last night one of my tail lights was out. Now this deserves a bit more detail. I went to applebees last night with Jesse and Brier, his soon to be babies momma. We got home at probably 930pm. And when my 65 year old neighbor is doing up at 930 at night i don't know considering all lights were off at his house. ALSO, he noticed it was my car, out of the 4 sitting in the driveway at the time, with 2 of the other cars in the driveway with similar body style... Creeeeeeeeeeeepppy.

Back to it, i biked to the parts store and bought a light bulb and installed it, no big deal.

Now i wrote this and now i'm off to eat a brat, sucka.

oh, here is a picture of the salt water tank scott, which is coming down and getting turned into a sump/refugium for a 50 breeder tank that will be a reef tank. WHOOP WHOOP.

pictures?: fuck em nevermind

new tank

Sun, 03 May 2009 15:54:39 GMT

pics coming soon, but it cleared up within 1 day and the next night i added snails, they are still alive, 5 days later. WOOOOOP

New saltwater tank - hour 1

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:11:53 GMT

Just got it set up, everything in the tank, it is now kicking ass and growing bacteria. Contents include

20 gallon long tank:
16 # live rock, all pieces with small amounts of coraline algae.
11 # uncured base rock. (in back of tank)
15 # live sand
20 # reef sand
Marineland 200 (50 gal) Bio-wheel hang on back filter
Hydor nano powerhead
Stealth 100w heater
Coralite 10k bulb
Purple up additive - to promote coraline growth

badabadabadabadabadabada

Boom

It's still really stirred up and will take a couple days to settle, once i can see the rocks i'll take another picture, upload it and let you see it, then probably move it all around and repeat the process.

Sidenote, my snowflake eel is still at the shop and the boss is talking of making me the GM for the store, I'm torn. The place is 250k in the hole per the owner/boss and he can be a total prick at times but i do need a job, and i'm becoming quite the fish expert... what to do.

saltwater tank

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:33:46 GMT

Well i'm diving into a new fish tank experience, i'm creating a saltwater tank out of one of my smaller tanks. And i already know what i'm putting in there. A snowflake eel. We have one at my store and it looks badass.

26 dollars at my fish shop, 4 tanks now with fish

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:03:44 GMT

Everyone knows retail therapy can be soothing every once in a while and when i decided to leave work early and do just that, i knew i made the right decision. I made the quick jaunt to the fish store i work at when i got done today and 26 dollars later - before discount 65$, i now have 4 tanks with at least one fish in each.

Tank 1 - the orginal, 10 gallon. 4 cherry barbs and 6 cardinal tetras. oh, and one small pleco to clean because i'm lazy.

Tank 2 - the upgrade - 30 gallon with one single green spotted puffer, it's too bad he's a dick or there would be much more in that tank, but i love him toooooo much to put him in something smaller.

Tank 3 - the infirmary/project tank - 20 gallon tall with a single chinese algae eater, these guys kill other fish, he might be getting the toilet treatment soon to accomodate something i want.

Tank 4 - the planter - 12ish clumps of live plants and 2 small plecos with 4 silver hatchet tetras.

So, as of today. 4 tanks, 19 fish. I'll let you know the count tomorrow. Though it better be fucking 19 as all my water is perfect right now. We'll see.

New tank.

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:08:28 GMT

Someone needs to tell me they want a fish tank so i can set up a new tank.

I can't validate a fifth tank in my bedroom, and i'm moving soon, Gah.

Fish tank lessons learned the hard way

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:35:45 GMT

Fish like gradual changes, do not dump directly into tank when arriving home from the fish store. Fish lives lost to this, 4.

Temperature changes of 30 degrees is not beneficial as well. RIP Rolley Polley, you were a favorite.

Small tanks for larger fish while they are growing causes deformities. Very sorry prickly goo, i didn't realize that until too late.

Don't trust any old person at the fish shop, they are not experts just because they work there. See me for an example, though i don't try and lie about the fact i don't know shit. 6 lost to this, those were NOT hardy fish.

When purchasing substrate (gravel/sand/loose rock, the shit on the bottom) make sure to wash it unless you like your water a variant of milky or egg white instead of clear. No lives lost to this, but i have gone through 45 gallons of RO water (reverse osmosis) thus far and looking to make that 60 this weekend.

Water changes are needed, regularly. Could be the factor in 2 deaths.

Fish tanks are more expensive than i thought, if you are doing it right that is.

Finally: Fish are like dogs, some breeds fight constantly, some do not. But also like dog, there are exceptions in every species. When picking out a fish at the store take the time to sit and watch it interact with the other fish in the tank, you can learn lots in that 5 minutes.

Day One - the gloating

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:32:40 GMT

So i quit smoking. For the sake of posterity i am writing this, but i'm pretty sure even with my incredibly shitty memory i will remember what sparked this transition for the rest of my life.

My birthday. The glorious June Second. Six Deuce.

I'm quite sure that my birthday twin had started the journey for me from smoker to non-smoker practically by himself. With grace and brow beating he made many logical arguments for me to quit, and as a ex-smoker his reasons were sound and based in experience. He at no point was an ass, always supportive and knowing the right thing to say to pull me towards quitting, instead of pissing me off and doing the opposite.

Since week one i have been told by various people to quit, from total strangers (assholes, mind your own fucking business) to my entire family and for some unknownst reason one person broke through the wall and forced my to look at this addiction. To study it and wonder each time i lit another up, why i am doing such.

The other two reasons for this time being the end-all compared to every other time i've attempted quitting. 1) A book, http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Way-Stop-Smoking-Non-Smokers/dp/1402718616 and 2) an awesome support group on facebook. Which, if you're reading this are probably a part of anyways. And while i could really go off on how awesome that group is, ill do so in a couple days when the non-smoking is actually getting to me.

Basically, six deuce, i am extremely thankful to know you, to be friends with you and share a birthday with you. Pretty sure i love you.

listening to "Cherry Blossom Girl - Air" on Blip

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:02:42 GMT

the day i quit smoking i will remember you Air.

Listen to my station on Blip.fm! on Blip

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:37:14 GMT

Listen to my station on Blip.fm!

Buwah

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:17:22 GMT

Figured I'd post something.

I'm getting a 4th fish tank, which should push me over the 100 gallon mark.

But Brent, you've killed the last 10 fish you bought. ~ Yeah yeah, but i know how i killed them all so i need to find new exciting (read:stupid newbie) ways to kill fish.

And this newest tank is going right next to my bed so it's going to have to be ultra quiet and calming to gaze at. That also means no sharp heels in bed ladies.

Other news. it's official, i got fucked with this car wreck... but i'm not hurt, have a new car and haven't lost my job yet so things could be worse.

fishes, the poor fishes

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:20:54 GMT

I'm such a donk.

As read a couple posts ago i lost one of my puffer fish. Was a sad day to be sure. RIP rolley poley.

I lost him to the ICK, which if fish could feel would be a fucker. The issue is in my ignorant state I dumped buckets of water from that tank into the new tank to help it gets established. Sad state that i didn't realize the new fish would probably not take to kindly to said disease. I lost 3 of 6. Sad sad donk state.

brent 0 fish 9

In other news, gus sends me good music, i give him props to that. Some day, some how i'll repay him for being awesome.

And here is sad update.

I recently got into a car accident with a bus. Wasn't my fault, nothing i could do, it slid through a stop sign on a side road, kids on the school bus, no one hurt but my car.

I recently found the car is being totaled, and the horror comes when i find that what they would give me was less than what i owe. To summarize quickly i am now out 2.6k and have no car. I'm working on a small claims suit if my lawyer uncle can't get anywhere with the insurance company and boy, does all of this suck.

It pretty easy to put into words how fucked i feel about this. Nothing i did except wake up and go about a normal day should have lead to me being without a car and owing money on something i need. And this is where i start to get mad. It would be so easy to say i don't want to be a contributor (carbon footprint and whatnot) and forgo getting a new car, use 2 wheels and leg power to get to work, at worst the bus. But no, with a town like the twin cities, with a shitty bus system and cold ass winters i'm unable to do without. To get to work it would take me an hour one way on the bus... I LIVE 22 small city blocks away. I can bike there in 12 minutes, door to desk.

I'm bitter and angry at how this played out. I realize it's only money, but fuck. I live light. When i've gotten raises i've taken more work off, I make due, I subsist and I enjoy. But when my base gets shattered like this, on some off bullshit chance of happenstance it irks the shit out of me. I don't live in negative Karma. This stress does nothing positive to me or anyone i meet.

I get this out here because a few will read, which is nice, a few will have something to say, ok, but i need to put this down so i can move on. Release it to a permanent state (which is not in my brain, that memory bank is defunk at this point). Which will remind me in a couple weeks, when this bullshit has passed and life is back to good, why sweat this small stuff?

Breakfast

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:24:43 GMT

red seedless grapes. Earl gray hot tea. Vanilla yogurt.

Surprisingly very good combo.

fish tank #3

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:57:58 GMT

For christmas i was the happy recipient of a new fish tank, constructed completely by my grandpap. A 30 gallon tank, in betwix the sizes of my other two tanks, a nice score. So my plan was to create this third tank in the hopes of starting to grow plants. Now i've done a decent amount of research into how this plant growing process works and i believe i can make this work.

I come home fresh from the fish store, bearing a bag of small gravel, some assorted plants growing chemicals, 4 live plants that can live in low light (the light hood i have is very inadequate for growing mucho plants and since i haven't built it yet...) and 4 neon tetras.

So i start to fill the tank, place the gravel on the bottom and get the filter/heater running. Let me mention this is the first true tank i have set up from start to finish, including buying the fish. And i purchased these fish as the fish store dude told me these inexpensive tetras would be good starters to get the bacteria established. So i have the tank ready to receive the fish and promptly dump them right in.

Now i sit down to watch the little guys acclimate to their new surrounding. As a group they all start swimming super fast about the tank... Swell, they seem to like the tank i think. That was not the case.

As i continue to watch them i start to think something is wrong. All of them zip around in short bursts and then float for a bit, rinse repeat for the next tenish minutes. so i stop paying a ton of attention to them and start cleaning up the area. When i come back i do a quick head count to find that there is a fish missing, look on the floor to find he made the great fish leap and is now peacefully dead on the floor. And upon further inspection of the tank, all 3 non jumpers are now floating in the current, unmoving. Brent 0 - Fish 4

At least i haven't killed the plants yet.

update: pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/21632568@N03/3190060854/in/photostream/

food

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:31:35 GMT

just made my omelet ever. spinach and fresh mozzarella. didn't work out so well, kinda tasteless, any suggestions? (besides not using such a tasteless cheese)

also, i made toast.

11/4

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:33:15 GMT

If Obama wins I am quitting smoking. If McCain wins i am moving to Canada.

obama 08