Finally

Tonight, I achieved Kraft Easy Mac perfection.

(In)famous

Fisher DeBerry, head football coach at the Air Force Academy, has made national news these past couple of days for comments he made about black athletes and recruiting. After we were crushed by # 20 TCU last weekend he made the observation that Texas Christian "had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did." Making generalizations about an entire race is "bad joo joo", even if it is somewhat of a compliment.

Personally, I think the media is making a "mountain out of a mole hill" but I would agree his words were unnecessary. We live in a society that is very sensitive towards certain issues, race being one of them. Regardless, he should have reserved these ideas for a crowd somewhat smaller than the national media.

*Random fact of the day: Fisher DeBerry is considered a civilian contractor (he's not in the Air Force but works for it) and has the highest salary in the Department of Defense at close to $600,000 a year. That is more than the most senior General in the military or even the President of the United States. Pretty good considering his record this year...

They can't be serious

Pouring through the news this morning, this particular article caught my eye. It tells of two 13-year-old girls in a singing group known as Prussian Blue. Though they may appear to be the next Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, their music is distinct. different. racist? That is right, Lamb and Lynx Gaede's songs have hate-filled lyrics that promote white nationalsim. Raised in Bakersfield by their mother, the two were forcefed white supremacy trash doctrine and sadly now consider these ideas their own. Because Bakersfield has been saturated by non-white races, the Gaede family is looking to move to the Pacific Northwest, to a town that is preferably greater than 90% white. Medford(89.99% white) anyone?

I'm Going to Pump (clap) You Up!

Lets get physical. Basic Cadet Training (BCT) was tough. Boxing class was painful. Tennis intramural has been a joke (I'm playing #1 singles for my squadron and haven't lost a match yet, 9-0 baby). All those things have contributed somewhat to my physical fitness over the past four months, but the start of the school year has seen the gradual decrease in the amount of physical activity I find myself involved in. Now is the time to change that, and that change is five minutes away. From my room, I have to walk five minutes to reach one of the finest athletic facilities of any college in the nation. Within the last week I've started to take advantage of this fact by lifting weights and running for close to two hours every other day.

The idea of "getting ripped" has passed my mind over the past month or so, but a letter from my brother served as my inspiration to really get started. We are both planning on being home in time for Thanksgiving, and he proposed a small competition to see who can get in better shape before that time. There is no real measure of who wins of loses this friendly competition, only the internal gratification felt by knowing something was accomplished. Dusty has the slight advantage, having a greater amount of free time than I do, but I'm going to work my hardest to level the playing field. I can't speak for my bro, but my goal is to decrease my body fat percentage and develop lean muscle mass. Picture Brad Pitt in Fight Club. That should be me right around Thanksgiving.

A Game for the Ages

Seven Seconds left, down three points and all USC needed to do was spike the ball, and kick a field goal to take things to overtime. Pete Carroll motioned to his Heisman winner, Matt Leinart to spike it and as the Trojans walked to the line of scrimmage that appeared to be just what was happening. Not quite though. USC would have no part in "playing it safe" today. After the hike, Leinart with the ball in his hands pushed and juked two yards into the end zone, giving the Trojans of USC the lead at 34-31, and giving the Fightin' Irish three seconds to do the impossible.

Sound exciting? That was just the last seven seconds. Notre Dame exercised excitement and flare as well. With five minutes left, down 28-24, the home field heroes struck quick and easy, giving themselves what seemed an incredible amount of momentum and what I thought would be the games last scoring drive. I was wrong.

This game had been talked about all week, and after watching I can now see why someone would pay over $400 dollars to see USC play. It may seem odd, sacrilegious even for me to cheer for the Trojans, considering I've been a UCLA fan my whole life (my dad graduated from there). However, my allegiances remain with the PAC-10 when it comes to non-conference match ups, even USC. If you didn't by chance tune in to this game because you had something better to do, which is essentially nothing, look for highlights on SportsCenter; they will amaze you.

Now reading: blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It comes highly recommended by Donnie, so it must be good.

Wednesday is Humpday...

It is the middle of the week, and after a chemistry graded review at 6:30am tomorrow I will have nothing in the way of my much deserved three-day weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing just how little there is to do in Colorado Springs.

Together Forever

Three years we've been together. Traveling the world, from Mexico to Seattle, Central Point to Colorado Springs I've spent every night over the past three years with one thing. My retainer. That streak came to an end Saturday night, all thanks to some slippery fingers and a vanity sink with no drain filter. Getting ready for bed in the group bathroom, I watched in slow motion as my small, lower jaw retainer dropped into the sink and slid right into the drain. I stood stunned, not sure how to feel. Sure, to some it was just a retainer, but it was my retainer. Part of me wanted to rip the pipes apart and search, but there was no hope. I turned around and went to bed. Like the necklaces comprised of two parts of a heart, I will cherish the upper half I have left, knowing that in some pond or sewer the other part of my retainer exists. This may sound pathetic to some, but that's just me- my life, my things, my values.