The weekend's here! Have a can of beer!

This evening Jess, Rashaad, Tracy, and I went to the Texas Roadhouse for supper. We are all coming off of 13 consecutive days of work with all sorts of arrival craziness, and I think we deserved to cut loose and have a delicious, non-dining hall meal. Everyone had steaks, and everyone complained a little bit about their food babies as they left the restaurant. I had a NY strip steak smothered with onions, mushrooms, and Jack cheese. Tom Colicchio would probably call that an abomination, but for me it was seriously tasty. It was a good evening.

On the way to dinner, we stopped at FedEx to mail some football tickets that we sold through Stubhub. I spent 10 minutes in the place, and ended up not shipping them because FedEx was out of both labels and receipt tape. A FedEx that is unable to ship items is like a Starbucks without coffee cups. I declare that the FedEx on the corner of Atherton and College Ave. is the worst FedEx in all of the land.

Plans for the weekend include. but are not limited to: watching season 2 of "Flight of the Conchords," sleeping in, helping Jess w/ her dinner club meeting on Sunday, and getting some reading done for school. I am so glad to have a real weekend.

Getting Back on the Wagon

April 13 seems like forever ago, but in reality it has been a quick 4+ months since I have updated this blog. Let's recap, and set some goals for the new school year, shall we?

Summer went incredibly quickly. Jess and I went to Disney World in May for our basically annual trip. It was a great time. We took advantage of a promotion that allowed us to stay and play for 7 nights for the price of 4, so this trip marked our longest adventure in "the World." It was both the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival and a Star Wars Weekend. Highlights included:

• Being in Florida for the statistically rainiest May ever. Orlando got about 14 inches of rain during the week we were there (Daytona got even more). We did not allow the rain to ruin our good time, though. With ponchos in hand we took advantage of smaller crowds. There wasn't anything we could do but laugh. It certainly made for a memorable trip!


• Some really awesome meals. We took advantage of the Disney Dining Plan, and although it is certainly an added expense (and we could make sure not to starve for cheaper) it is a lot of fun to try out all of the different restaurants at Disney. We had a phenomenal meal at the California Grill (maybe our best Disney meal ever?), had a very good time at 'Ohana, and in general ate like royalty throughout our stay. When you are having a hard time deciding where you had the tastiest steak, you've had a pretty good week of eating.


• With more time in the parks than we were used to, we had no issues taking advantage of all of our favorite attractions. Some of our big-time favorites we did many times (Toy Story Mania, Soarin', Tower of Terror), and we got to check out a few attractions we hadn't done before, or hadn't done in years (Spaceship Earth, American Idol).

The rest of the summer was something of a blur. I worked for Conference Services this summer, which was very easy. Jess and I took Rashaad to see Kathy Griffin in Baltimore for his birthday. We visited my folks in Erie and saw a drum and bugle corps show. There was some hanging out with Caden and Kenzie. We saw some Pirates games. In short, summer was spent doing the best things with my favorite people.

We are back to work, and I am excited for the year. I have a good supergroup with a great sense of humor. I have a good supervisor (something I am appreciating more and more each day) and I think that for the most part the student leaders I am working with are good people who want to do well. North Halls is a good place to be (even if I have 3 additional staff members and a grand total of 860 residents this year)

Let's set some goals for the year, eh?

1. Success in my doctoral program. Specifically, I would like to get A's in all of my classes, and at this time next year I want to have a specific vision for my dissertation research.
2. I want to run a 5K in the next 6 months or so. To that end Jess and I have bought a treadmill, and I am following this plan to get ready.
3. I want to use my reusable coffee cup everyday, instead of accumulating wasteful paper cups.
4. I will blog more.

That's good for now. Thanks for tuning in!

My money is on the pack of hyenas

Here's the thing: A pack of hyenas has no sense of self-consciousness. During a fight between a gorilla and pack of hyenas, here is how I imagine the internal dialogue between the two groups might go:



Gorilla: Here I am fighting a pack of hyenas. Lets see how that goes.

Hyenas: BITE! BITE! BITE! BITE!

Gorilla: It looks like I am somewhat outnumbered here.

Hyenas: BITE! BITE! BITE! BITE!

Gorilla: Despite my superior intellect and strength, I sure am having a hard time keeping up with these hyenas.

Hyenas: BITE! BITE! BITE! BITE!

Gorilla: I shall now die an honorable death. Good fight, Hyenas . . . my only regret is that I have but one life to live.

Hyenas: EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT!



As you can see, the gorilla has the terrible disadvantage of knowing exactly what is going on around him. Meanwhile, the hyenas are too stupid to do anything but attack. Advantage, hyenas.

A Duggar Update!

John and Anna Duggar are having a baby!  Woot!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/duggars_grandchild

When I get home, I kick off my shoes.

Here's the thing: As soon as I am in pajamas, it is just a matter of time before I doze off. I have the uncanny ability to fall asleep in approximately 3 minutes, and even faster when my pillows are cool and the room is totally dark. When I get home from work, I usually just stay in whatever I wore that day, sans shoes. I don't generate more laundry by changing into sweats or jeans and a t-shirt, and pajamas mean that I am ending my day and ready to sleep!

Conversely, Jessica changes into comfy clothes the instant she gets home. Sometimes she takes a direct route to the bedroom to change before she even checks the answering machine or grabs a seat on the couch. Before I even know it, she is making her reappearance in her comfy clothes. So, undoubtedly we are an interesting sight, me in my khakis and her in her hooded sweatshirt.

Power to imagine, courage to act.

This past week, Jess and I (along with some of our colleagues) went to the ACPA Annual Convention in Metro D.C. To say the convention was in Washington D.C. is a little bit misleading.  Despite being in the hazy midground between Maryland and Virginia, the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center is just barely conveniently located to Washington and all of the good things there are to do there.  This didn't prevent us from enjoying ourselves and taking in some of the springtime traditions of our nation's capital.

Things I Liked About Going to the ACPA Annual Convention:

1. Jess, Laura, and Kate presented.  ACPA is one of our profession's biggest stages, so to present there is something of a big deal.
2. I went to lots of good sessions, and I left the conference with some new ideas.  Even though for the most part these new ideas aren't in line with what I am able to do in my current position with the university, eventually I may be able to apply them.
3. Sightseeing in D.C. was fun.  For some reason I really enjoy navigating public transportation when we travel.
4. My interview with GWU went well.  
5. I got to see some old friends I do not see very often.  It was great to see Josh, Shandol, and Kristen in particular.
6. I helped with mock interviews at placement, which was a lot of fun.  When I signed up to help I did not know that I would actually be facilitating the interviews, but I did and it went well. I like helping people with those sorts of things.

Things I Liked Less About Going to the ACPA Annual Convention:

1. Things were expensive.  For instance, a cup of yogurt with granola at the Gaylord was $5.00.  Jess and I planned for this, however, by packing our own snacks, beverages, and breakfast foods.  Take that, Gaylord!  The hotel was expensive, conference registration was expensive, parking was expensive . . . attending was certainly an investment in your professional development.
2. There were almost too many options when it came to sessions during each time period.  There were page after page of sessions to choose from, which made it very difficult to choose just one for each timeslot.
3. Although there was wifi in the hotel, I couldn't get it to work in the conference center side of things.  I had visions of using Evernote to keep track of what I did at the convention, but that did not happen.

As you can see, the things I liked outnumbered the things I did not.  As of now, we are planning to attend the 2010 Convention in Boston, which is great because it is in a wonderful, accessible location. I am not really a big-city person (a Facebook quiz actually suggested that I should live in the country), but Pittsburgh and Boston are two legit cities where I think I would enjoy living.  

Jess and I are both on the doot this weekend.  Here's keeping our fingers crossed that it is a quiet, uneventful weekend!

Here's a funny book for you . . .

I think this is a funny book because it takes really insignificant pop culture nuggets and pulls some real significance out of them. I think Klosterman is a great writer, and I like his slightly twisted take on things. If you read nothing else, check out his 23 questions that asks everyone he meets in order to decide his he can really love them.

When I retire, I might choose to live in Vancouver, BC.

I've never been there, but it seems like my kind of place. As much as I would want to live somewhere warm and sunny, I think I am more naturally a cold and rainy kind of guy. I like the idea of living near the ocean, and Vancouver has a reputation for being a liberal, open-minded kind of place. I could see myself retiring somewhere like that.

The weekend that was

Jess and I had another very good weekend crammed full of movies and general laziness. On Saturday night we watched Changling, which was surprisingly better than I anticipated. I thought it would be OK, and it was actually very good. I am not a huge Angelina Jolie fan (I don't get the appeal in the slightest), but she was excellent in this movie (although arguably even Bea Arthur could have shouted "That's not my son!" 60 times and elicited an emotional response). I liked Clint Eastwood's directing very much. It looked like a very old-school film, and I didn't know much about the story other than the switched identity angle, so it kept me on the edge of my seat.

On Sunday, we went to see The Last House on the Left. My disinterest in horror films is well documented, but Rashaad wanted to see this one so we agreed to go. I must say, I actually really enjoyed it (aside from the pretty awful rape scene). I liked how ridiculous it got, and how you could basically throw out common sense and root for the good guys, even if the good guys were throwing someone down a garbage disposal. One major issue: I couldn't get past the lead bad guy (2nd from the left) looking a lot like Bill Hader.

The NCAA Tournament is soon to be underway, and I was very disappointed that Penn State got snubbed. On one hand, I kind of get it (they certainly should have beat Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament to lock up a space), but on the other hand they had a good Big Ten record and beat almost everyone ahead of them in the conference. They were definitely more worth than Arizona, and probably Minnesota too. They are a #2 seed in the NIT, but that is hard to care about.

I want a Funcooker

Remember how when I started this blog I was committed to updating everyday? What happened to that?

This week is spring break at PSU. Most people spend spring break going to exotic, tropical locations and making bad, drunken decisions. Not the Kovals. We visited Jess's parents in Ohio, my folks in Erie, and made it back to State College in time for Tuesday Night Trivia at Otto's, where we were victorious (in part due to low attendance due to the break). Jess and I both worked yesterday and today to preserve vacation days for our trip to Florida in May.

While in the Pittsburgh area over break, Jessica and I went to see Watchmen at the IMAX theatre on the Waterfront. It was pretty good. I really liked the comics and wanted to like the movie, so I am sure I am biased. I thought the acting was underwhelming, but the story was good and it was so true to the comics that I couldn't have been particulary disappointed. Had the acting been better, I think it would have gotten better reviews in the popular press. It was a good looking film, and although lots of people have issues with Zach Snyder's directorial style, I liked Watchmen just fine. Make a note: I must be the only person who was not terribly offended by Dr. Manhattan's radioactive manhood on full display . . . he was naked throughout most of the comic, too!

Lately I have been getting acceptance letters from the doctoral programs to which I have applied. In addition to my previous acceptance at Pitt, I was also accepted at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the University at Buffalo. UT needed to know whether I was coming in 2 business days, so I had to ask to be moved to the waiting list. Buffalo has offered me a solid assistantship with a stipend and full in-state tuition, so that looks very appealing right now. I'm still waiting on GWU and the University of Denver, so we will see what happens.

I am looking forward to the weekend and the basketball fever pitch that is due to strike soon. PSU plays Purdue tonight in the Big Ten Tournament, and hopefully a win tonight will clinch them a spot in the Big Dance (although they may already be in). I am looking forward to seeing how things bracket out on Sunday evening.

It is suck.

This weekend, Jessica and I are both on call.  In addition to the typical weekend hijinks, it is also "State Patty's Day."  A little historical context may be necessary for those who are not from the Centre region.  Three years ago, St. Patrick's Day landed smack dab in the middle of Penn State's spring break.  In order to make sure that local pubs made their money, and also to ensure an additional drunken blow-out of a weekend, students took it upon themselves to reschedule St. Patty's Day for a time when they were in town.  Thus, State Patty's Day was born.

Three reasons it is wildly unnecessary this year:

1.  St. Patrick's Day is not during spring break.

2.  St. Patrick's Day is in March, and it is still February.  If you are going to make up a holiday, at least have it in a month that kind of aligns with what you are trying to do.

3.  Students get drunk and make bad decisions every single weekend.  Why formally encourage this bad behavior?  Yes, State Patty's Day is organized by bonafide student organizations on campus.  

In typical "Kovals On-Call" style, Jess and I watched a DVD this evening.  I'm not sure what to say about Hancock.  On one hand, I appreciate that they were trying to tell a different type of superhero movie.  On the other hand, it wasn't very good.  So, B+ for effort, C- for execution.  It does make me more excited for Watchmen next weekend.  Today I ordered tickets for an IMAX showing in Pittsburgh while we are in town for spring break.  I am very excited, needless to say!  If Wil Wheaton likes it, it must be good.

Cleveland Clinton

Today, through the miracle of Facebook and the tangled web of connections that it facilitates, I found out some very sad news about a high school classmate.  My friend Cleveland Clinton passed away after some complications from a surgery.  Cleveland and I were in marching band and drum and bugle corps throughout high school, but we fell out of contact a little bit after high school, and a lot bit after college.

On the day that I met Clevelend we were in the 8th grade and performing in a musical production at the Erie Civic Center.  We attended different schools, but all of the bands in Erie were pulled together for the City of Erie's bicentennial.  The massive combined band was set up on the floor at the Civic Center, and a keen trombone player down the line mentioned that we were sitting on a block of ice the size of Cleveland.  Mr. Clinton, whom I had never met before, chimed in, "Hey . . . I'm Cleveland!"  This was just a hint at Cleveland's sense of humor.

This whole thing is particularly sad because Cleveland was finally getting his life together and doing what he loved.  As best I could tell, Cleveland did not have much of a home life during high school and seemed to really be entirely on his own.  After high school he put himself through school, got his teaching degree, and finally became a music teacher in Colorado.  Cleveland always loved music and anyone who knew him at all could describe how talented he was.  He overcame so much to make something of himself and did it essentially on his own.

I really regret not being in touch with him of late, and I will miss him.

The weekend that was

Jess and I had a pretty nice weekend. On Friday night we went with Tracy to see Milk at the State Theatre. This was an excellent movie. Sean Penn was tremendously good in it. Milk is the type of movie that I think everyone should see, kind of like Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan. It's one of those important films that can make a difference if enough people see it. I went into it thinking it would be very good, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was amazing. And seeing a movie at the State Theatre is always a lot of fun. I didn't even get the kid snack tray, which is certainly the best deal in town (popcorn, fruit snacks, and a juice box for $2.50!).

On Saturday, Jess and I ran some errands. We bought our book club's newest read at Barnes and Noble, and picked up some essentials at Target. I also got a badly needed haircut. It had been 82 days since my previous haircut, which is approximately 30 days too long. We had Outback for supper, and watched The Wackness. I enjoyed this movie. Jess particularly enjoyed the soundtrack, as it was a flashback into the music that was popular when we were in high school. Well, popular if you were into popular music. I was too busy listening to Huey Lewis and the News and Gustav Holst.

Jess and I have started a new tradition. One of us is going to cook a new recipe for supper every weekend. We will alternate weeks, and Sunday night was my turn. I attempted to follow a recipe for chicken fried steak, which is one of my favorite foods. I give myself an A for effort, and a B- for execution. Overall it turned out pretty bland. I wasn't entirely thrilled with how the coating fried up on the steaks, but I liked the consistency of the gravy. It was all slightly bland . . . I should have seasoned the dredging flour a bit more, and jazzed up the gravy a bit. But, this is certainly something I could make again, and I think I could do a better job if I tried it again. Jess is up next weekend . . . I'm excited to see what she makes!

Milk and Cookies

My friend Rashaad and I are going to start a band. We need to learn to spin records, because that will be our art. I will wear a white suit, while he will wear a black suit. We will wear sunglasses inside, and at perhaps night.

This plan was hatched on Thursday night, and so far nothing has been done to make it more of a reality.

Scenes from the Jeff Reed Sheetz in New Alexandria

While driving to State College from Ohio last night, Jess and I stopped at the Jeff Reed Sheetz in New Alexandria, PA. While all we went in for was some Diet Dr. Pepper and a snack, we ended up having a blast.

First of all, file this under "Signs that are not that necessary."

Secondly, we spotted some Ben Roethlisberger beef jerky. I do not want to ever have anything with my face on it to be labeled "Soft and Tender."

Otherwise, this Sheetz had every novelty candy and snack item known to man. New Runts with grape-flavored candies! New Butterfinger Bars with the same amount of caffeine as energy drinks! INSANITY!

I'm on a boat!

This was a good, if low-key, weekend. There was a game night, there was a dinner club meeting, and there was plenty of sleeping. Jess and I watched the premiere episode of Dollhouse, and on the whole it was pretty decent. I'm left with questions about what else will happen, and what all of the characters are about, so that is a good sign. There was also the premiere of this season of the Amazing Race, which is great. I'm rooting for the little-people stunt men, based on episode 1.

My snoring has gotten out of control, so here is what I need to do to: lose some weight. I've emailed a friend who went to the doctor for his snoring, but I think the bottom line is that I'm too fat for sleeping. I've tried many of the sprays, nosestrips, and nose-plug like devices without any real relief, and the common denominator is me being fat. Today I had a turkey sandwich on bread without any sort of dressing for lunch, so I guess that is a good first step. I need a picture of Sean Agnew in my office for "thinspiration."

GTD

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you are getting a lot of things done and making a difference? Today has nearly, but not quite, been like that. A student thanked me for bending a flexible rule (reserving a kitchen on short notice) by bringing me homemade cookies and brownies. The co-curricular meeting I was in this morning was actually quite productive, and I've started working with my supervisor to plan something really cool for next fall. On the other hand, one of my students blew me off for an appointment (over lunch, no less), and I am blogging from work, so it is obvious I have a free minute or twelve.

Today I logged into the library's website and reserved a couple of books. I requested Junot Diaz's book of short stories, and the first two volumes of John Updike's Rabbit series. Reading all about Updike's unfortunate passing inspired me to read some of his classic novels. When I was in 12th grade, we read the short story A&P in class. It is a great story about a teenage clerk in a grocery store who sticks up for a female customer whom the manager wants to throw out of the store because she is not dressed appropriately. What I remember best about this story was that I read it out loud to the class, and it was a little bit risque so I got to ham it up a little.

A confession about my library usage: I am so terribly lazy that even if a book is sitting on the shelf in Patee or Paterno, I always ask to pick it up at the Arts and Architecture library in Stuckmann Building, even though that means I get the books 2 or 3 days later. Ha!

Possibly the saddest niche greeting cards ever

Spotted this afternoon at Target, sadly.

Chia Homer Update

I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath for an update on Chia Homer's growth.  As you can see, he's looking pretty sharp!  What I particularly like about this Chia Homer is that he seems determined not to grow hair where Actual Homer does not have hair (even though there are places to spread Chia Seeds).  It's almost uncanny!

There ain't nothing cuter than a fat country baby eating peaches on a hardwood floor

Today was a variation on our typical pattern of lazy Saturdays. I slept until approximately 11AM, then Jess and I proceeded to watch our usual lineup of home improvements shows on TLC.  I am not sure what the appeal of these shows is, considering that we do not own a home and cannot make any improvements or changes to our current apartment.  I do like thinking about being able to someday own a home and pick out hardwood flooring, though.  This evening we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall on DVD.  Although we had seen it in the theatre, it really held up in a repeat viewing (particularly the Dracula musical part).  

Right now Jon and Kate Plus 8 is on.  This show is very conflicting for me.  On one hand, it is pretty clear to me that this family has done a good job of exploiting their situation for financial gain.  On the other hand, having a TV show so your kids can benefit is not necessarily a bad thing.  This is for certain:  Kate Gosselin is batshit crazy.  It is a miracle on par with the 1980 US Olympic hockey gold medal that Jon hasn't packed up and joined a traveling band of hobos instead of dealing with her.  Yikes.