a better son/daughter

the first thing i thought when i listened to rilo kiley all those years ago was "this is the type of music that should live on and i should listen to when i think about high school era"
i still think that 6 years later.
i'm almost 22 afterall, holy shit.

spring time

it's one of those days where it gets cold again after a rain and i want it to be warm and stuff cuz i wanna go outside and buy some new soap and drink coffee but it feels more like a fall day rather than spring.
these days are frustrating to me.
LAME.

anyway, i've been meaning to get some thumb tacks to stick up this german flag i stole from my parents. it's classy. i want to put things in the foreground and take pictures of things in front of it. i'd put it behind my bed but there's a window there. and then people might mistake me for a nazi. NO GOOD.

the new bed i purchased from lebeda came today, too. i'm going to hang out in it for awhile before i do anything today.
okay. coffee time. I'M STOKED.

wha wha iowa.

so i guess iowa passed the gay marriage bill allowing gay marriage. how insane. first state in the midwest.
noice one, iowa. how progressive of us.

in other news, i really miss the washington street jimmy johns and all its problems. being in iowa city doesn't feel the same anymore. i don't really like working at the new store.
i like a few of the employees but that's about it. good night and good luck!

Across the Universe

I've recently decided that Across the Universe is probably one of my favorite movies.
One of the best movies I've seen in a long time.
I've been watching it while I've been on the computer the past couple-a days, more in the background as a soundtrack. It's kind of nice to just be able to listen to Beatles songs. I love netflix!!
My dvd player recently broke, the man at Best Buy told me the laser was bad in it now and it's cheaper to get a new one. So I'm going to do that soon.

Today I walked downtown to pick up my paycheck and grab some lunch after my hefty slumber of sleeping in til noon after working about 20 hours in 2 days with 3 hours of sleep in-between shifts of 13 hours and 9 hours and I wore some different shoes because my "normal shoes" are getting a little beaten up and I thought I'd try something else out. In about 30 minutes time I got a blister the size of my heel and it popped. I looked at it after one of my drivers dropped me off at my apartment and the skin was all scaled down to the bottom, ew gross I know.
But anyway it was so bad I would keel over every time I put any pressure on it. It's feeling a little better but I think I might take a vicadin and fall asleep.
Foolish decision!

Anyhoo, this was moreso just to tell you guys to watch Across the Universe. now.
do it!

happy birthday, pluto!

okay, so pluto turns 79 today (the planet).
yeah, that's exciting.

okay honestly that cartoon is kinda boring but it's all about pluto's birthday. but pluto the dog. i care more about the planet.
hmph. frustrating.
good night.

the lock-out

i walked home after a 12-hour day at work to eat some mac and chz and take a shower before going up stairs to watch heroes at tara's.
so i get to my door, get out my keys and unlock the door but it's already unlocked so i get my "confused look" on my face and start panicking. i call the maintenance guy, joe, and to no avail. his phone is turned off. i don't believe this is true so i call again, frantic, and leave a wordy ridiculous voice mail. typical.
so i go up to tara's apartment on floor three because we have plans around 8 and it's about 7 and i know she's doing homework. i inform her of the situation at hand and so we eat our respective dinners, her's jell-o, mine mac n chz from z'mariks.
so we watch the tail end of gossip girl while she does homework and i am trying to call joe every 15 minutes to see if he's turned his phone on yet.
he hasn't.

heroes is on and it's exciting but i'm still pre-occupied with the obvious i'm-locked-out-of-my-apartment woes. even though it hadn't quite hit yet. after heroes we get the bright idea to try and contact natalie the mod pod lady herself to see if she had a different number we could try to get ahold of joe with. nope, no answer. we lose.
THEN, i get the brilliant idear of trying to break into my apartment window because i swear it is possible. which half freaked me out but half made me excited to be able to get in. luckily (??) i could not break into my apartment.

so we watch the tele and tara does homework and i continue to call joe.
around 1145 we both realize how tired we are and i realize i'm probably not going to be able to go home that evening so we set up sheets and a few blankets on her couch for me to sleep on -- man, tara's awesome! and right as we're both about to go to sleep or at least attempt to, at 1204 joe calls. after MIDNIGHT. really!? so, he says he will come unlock the door and i chuckle to myself a bit. 5 hours of waiting for him to call or at least check his phone to see if he's missed any calls... yadda yadda yadda i go downstairs get let in to my apartment, say hello to all my furniture i haven't seen since 6am that morning, watch sex and the city, and fall asleep.
what a weird day yesterday was.

if you voted for him, change is on the way, know it.

second to j.t. and beyonce on snl this is the greatest thing to come of beyonce's hit single "single ladies"
yup.

the flobots

the latest band that i've been really into is the flobots. their two singles 'rise' and 'handlebars' are two of the best songs i've heard in forever.
note, they're rappers. note, they're from denver. note, they're political.
the lyrics in their songs are completely telling and they use string instruments and trumpets and it brings everything i love about music all into one thing.

everyone misinterprets what he's talking about in 'handlebars' thinking that he wants to take over the world.
that being said, this weeks office was pretty good.
i have a lot to do at work this week. i'm doing the schedule and have all these weird things i need to do in addition to that. busy busy. i just listen to a lot of wu tang clan and punk/garage rock about capitalism.

all time favorite flash animation, etc

lolcity under attack

song is some song by rammstein. oh those pesky germans.

also, i haven't slept in almost 23 hours. i worked last night and decided to stay awake until i go to bed tonight. to achieve this goal, i need coffee and food. now!
i'm working at 630am tmrw morning so you know, it's necessary that i not fall asleep now. i just have to make it til like 10! i can do it!

i signed up for netflix i currently have juno (my interest got the best of me) and finding neverland to watch. i might upgrade to the three at a time plan and get christmas on mars the flaming lips movie.
until laterz

iowa city

it's been somewhat of a whirlwind since i arrived, not quite sure how to describe it because i haven't quite gotten to the point where it feels home-y yet. some friends are in town right now so that's fun.
more later.

look!

pretty!

mom turns 58 spenser turns the big 3-4 (yesterday)

oh mee-ster brother, you're a good one. wish i coulda seen you, hell even gotten a chance to phone you on your birfday. today we can phone you or tomorrow. miss you i'm glad i'll get to see you in a month!
happy birthday, mommy! you're getting older and losing your wisdom! oh silly mommy!
hehe just kidding. love you though!

eeeeeeeeee~!

heeheehehehehee. sometimes this is me!

the world and the cost of oil

Oil cools after vaulting to $135

Oil prices have risen more than 40% so far this year

Oil prices were well off their peak of $135 a barrel on Friday as investors cashed in on five sessions of rises.

US sweet light crude surged to $135.09 on Thursday, before tumbling to close at $130.81. London's benchmark Brent crude also fell.

But supply worries meant that prices once again found some support in European trade on Friday.

US crude rose $2.15 to $132.96 amid fears about the effects of higher prices on the world economy.

London Brent rose $2.48 to $132.99.

'Not enough supply'

Oil prices have risen about 40% this year, as soaring demand from emerging economies looking to power their growth has been exacerbated by supply fears and speculation on the world markets.

"Supplies not growing is still the main thing," said Tony Nunan at Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp.

UK'S CHEAPEST & MOST EXPENSIVE FUEL Cheapest unleaded: 107.9p (Gateshead) Most expensive unleaded: 125p (Northampton) Cheapest diesel: 117.9p (Mansfield) Most expensive diesel: 138p (Hexham) Source: PetrolPrices.com High oil prices are here to stay Holiday drivers face price hike Send us your comments

"Opec can turn the tap but they cannot do it forever, and non-Opec growth is not enough," he added.

Some analysts have raised the possibility that oil could reach $200 by 2010, while others say that if geopolitical worries subside and the US dollar regains its strength, it may begin to edge down.

The record-busting run in oil has pushed fuel bills up to the point where British drivers could pay up to £110m more for petrol over this weekend's bank holiday than they did a year ago, according to the motoring group, the AA.

The average price of diesel has shot up 6.76 pence per litre during the past month to 124.17 pence per litre, while the average price of petrol has risen to 112.55p per litre from 108.06p.

The path of UK petrol and diesel prices

Concerned about the knock-on effect on businesses, the British Chambers of Commerce has called on the government to abandon plans to increase petrol duty by 2p per litre in October.

The high cost of fuel is also having a punishing effect on airlines, with a number warning that they will have to cut flights and increase prices to survive.

British Airways boss Willie Walsh told journalists on a press trip to promote the UK carrier's new OpenSkies venture that airlines will now struggle to offer the cheap fares to which UK travellers have become accustomed.

He told the Guardian newspaper that many budget airlines would collapse, squeezed by the deadly combination of high fuel costs and declining passenger numbers, as consumers rein in their spending.

Investment needed

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is working with international partners to persuade the Opec oil producers' cartel to increase supply.

But Opec secretary-general Abdullah al-Badri on Thursday repeated the cartel's stance that it can do nothing to lower oil prices in a "crazy" market and blamed surging prices on traders looking to cash in on geopolitical worries in unstable oil producing regimes, including Nigeria and Iraq.

One analyst said political pressure should instead be exerted on leading producers to invest more in long-term capacity.

"All this excess profit that has been generated by the oil industry really needs to be invested in refineries, pipelines and oil wells," Francisco Blanch, head of global commodities research at Merrill Lynch, told the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7416133.stm

somethin about nothin

i don't have much to talk about.
i haven't been keepin' up with the news, i guess i'll post this poster i made. i bet spenser and amy will dig it.