All of this brain cyclone

The loss begins now:

- I'm finally going to admit the truth to myself, I don't feel comfortable going through a round-about.

- Ticks..ticks are back. They're back. Screw you stupid f***ing ticks. 10 ticks! This means war!

- We've still got no internet. And no cable, but I'm not really missing the cable (other than the NBA and Top Chef)

- Does anyone else think this Boston team has to win it this year or never? (I'm in a hotel room watching the game) Ray Allen looks dead. Rondo has to get better, and maybe he will.

- So we moved into our house and it is pretty awesome. The kitchen rocks. We managed to put stuff into every cabinet, but none of them are really full. We've made some neat stuff, some that didn't work: Pumpkin tortillas...which ended up more like flatbread, but heavy. And chicken with shallots and garlic, allegedly Alton Brown's favorite recipe of all time (according to I'm just here for the food), which I have to admit, was pretty astoundingly good. The kitchen is just amazing. We've actually set up a card table, IN THE KITCHEN, and we eat there. I think of it as the Chef's Table for the house. The boy thinks of it as a place to eat puffs while dad cuts up smelly stuff.

- I'm getting frustrated about this: There appears to be a widespread perception that high gas prices are somehow something the President can directly influence. I'm skeptical that this perception is anything close to reality. Presumptive Hypocritical Party Nominee John McCain's suggestion that Congress should temporarily life the Federal Gas tax makes me think he's borderline senile. I mean, yes, it is the President's stupid policies over the last 8 years that have resulted in ever-increasing consumption (demand) within the domestic and international energy markets. I'm not disputing that. If this Administration had done what the previous administration had done (consistently push policies aimed at reducing consumption, improving relations with oil producing countries, setting reasonable limits for greenhouse gas admissions, and develop alternative power sources), then we would not be in a predicament where every random approach to producing more gas seems like a viable economic policy (I'm looking at you idiot-biofuel movement).
So yes, the President ends up affecting the price of gas, but not because he wakes up in the morning and decided: Screw you America, this year gas is going to hit $4 a gallon just to benefit my oil company plans. No, its because the President got up every damned day of his term and said: Screw you America, today I will ignore all rational thought and just do whatever my old college buddy says to do. With that policy, predictably, everything is going to pot.

- The Cavs and Celtics engaged in two of the chippiest (firefox spellcheck doesn't like that word!) first round first round series I ever saw just a few weeks ago, and yet now they are both playing like dead men. BORING!!!!!!!!!

- This drive to KC is getting longer. Wow...today's drive sucked.

- So about the Neosho Madtom: My new boss at work may have just totally won me over this week, and now I'm kinda wondering what the limit is...or if there is one. Meanwhile, I'm getting to the borderline of time to prepare this NABS talk...especially considering it is on a subject I've never spoken on before. Saying I've got a lot going on is sorta ridiculous. I've got so much happening I'm having a hard time keeping it even organized in broad categories. I need to sit down just to figure it all out, except I don't have time.
Of course, this is fun beyond all expectations. If we can accomplish something here, I'll be happy. Even if I do have to keep reading the letters of the ignorant and bitter.

We moved...to a place without internet

We moved! We moved! We moved!

No time to talk because we headed to a wedding today, but we moved! Yay! I don't have to drive an unseemly amount every single day.

Yay!

Bleh

What's been going on? I don't even know. Go check out Analyze
Everything for pics of Kansas waterfalls and stories about asian
clams. And hopefully a picture of the first wild black-footed ferrets
in Kansas in a long, long time.

Otherwise:

- We're buying a house. Four bedrooms, 2 baths, in town, nothing
much happening in the yard, no garage but a 2 car carport. Across the
street from a Catholic school (Am I ever going to get away from
Catholics? I'd convert but I loathe religion). Best positive of the
house is that it is in town, but number 2 is the incredibly huge
kitchen. Ok, incredibly huge is an overstatement, but this kitchen is
easily twice the size of our kitchen in grad school, with tons of
counterspace and a huge pantry (wow...just...wow). We move in April
23rd, and I can't wait. I'm borderline desperate to quit driving so
much all the damn time. We're going to turn the yard entirely into
natives and garden. I've actually got all kinds of plans involving
solar heating and geothermal and damn near every other crazy scheme
you can think of (using greywater maybe?).

- Morel Hunting. So who's been doing this? Sightings are starting
to come in from Missouri and Kansas, so I thought I'd do a little
hunting last weekend, but I was totally shut out. I suspect finding
the first one will be the hardest, because I'm not even sure if I'm
looking in the right places. Basically, native woodlands with some
moisture. While I think we'll definitely get in on the morel action
this year, I think we're also going to buy a 'mushroom log'. They
sound fairly easy to maintain, and the prospect of having an abundant
supply of shitake mushrooms is pretty appealing. Let me know if
you've done this and how successful/easy it was.

- The baby decided to be extra cute this weekend, which was pretty
good timing, because both grandma's got to see him. For some reason
he's not really crawling yet. Almost seems like he's just unable to
get good enough traction on the ground, because when he's in my arms,
I'm pretty much his own personal jungle gym. The kid loves, loves,
hanging upside down. He's kind of a little monkey.

- Top Chef. I never thought I would watch this show, but I have
been, and despite the unbearable awkwardness of it (as compared to the
professionalism of Iron Chef's similar competition), the show is
fantastic. I can't help but compare Top Chef to "The Next Iron Chef"
and find Top Chef inferior. The competitors are less confident, less
experienced, and the judges seem very unprofessional. Also, some of
the competitions are pretty bogus. I'm rooting for the guy with the
weird mohawk-type hair.

- The Darjeeling Limited. In my opinion, this was probably the worst
movie Wes Anderson has made. Which actually sounds bad, but isn't,
because this movie is fantastic. This guy just makes unbelievably
good movies. I didn't think Royal Tenenbaums could be topped, but
then The Life Aquatic happened. I'd actually probably put this movie
as dead-even with Bottle Rocket, but since Bottle Rocket was the first
indie film I 'discovered' on my own, I still like it more.

- I am Legend. Disappointing. Will Smith can act, really well, and
unfortunately a pretty lame script killed what was a good film. The
next sentence is a spoiler, so stop if you want to watch the film. In
particular, I think every single thing that happened after he was
knocked unconscious kinda sucked, and everything before that was kinda
awesome. The script-writers should have read World War Z.

- The NBA: I don't care about the seeding in the West right now.
There are 5 legitimate contenders for winning the Western Conference:
Phoenix, San Antonio, L.A., New Orleans, and Dallas. Yes Dallas! Are
you kidding me? That's the last team the Spurs want in the first
round.

- College Basketball - Well, Tyler "Mr. Will"
Hansbroughuruhgoghghrogh showed his true colors against KU by playing
like ass and falling down a lot. That guy winning a national player
of the year award is an embarrassment to those awards. Yes, the guy
plays hard, but he's TERRIBLE!!! I'm starting to think Mark Madsen is
getting embarrassed by the constant comparison. Who honestly thinks
this guy is better, in any way, than Beasley?