Let's all have a moment of silence for Collin, who cut off his dreads the other day.

May they rest in peace.

brett at 12:32 PM on April 29, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every semester of my undergraduate career, I have put together an intramural soccer team. I've done outdoor mens, indoor mens, and indoor coed. Not counting the semesters I was in Japan, that makes 8 semesters of soccer. Our team ever been more than marginally successful--and by "marginally successful" I mean to say that we were perennial losers.

Untl yesterday, when we won the intramural championship.

Somehow, our team went 1 and 3 in pool play, but still managed to dominate the entire tournament, never really having a close game, and ultimately winning the championship game against a team we had lost to earlier in the season. It was a hell of a ride, boys, and now our picture will be up in the UNL campus rec center, for all to see and gape at in awe.

My legs are fucking killing me, though.

We had to play two games in a row, and I definitely took some shots. Not shots as in kicking the ball, but shots as in people trying to knock me over for no reason, people sliding into my ankles for no reason, and fools just trying to toss me down. Seriously, ouch.

Two very, very rough games those were. I can still ride my bike, thankfully, but walking around is a major pain in the ass, and I don't think I'll be doing much dancing at the Daily Nebraskan banquet tonight. My knee is just too torn up. It's really that bad.

Speaking of the banquet: I'm a lot less excited for it than I was for the Fall banquet. Perhaps I'll take this one easier; less drinking, less dancing, less everything. Plus, last night we had to celebrate our championship by getting absolutely shitty afterwards--probably not the best idea considering that today is the banquet and I'm expected by many to have a repeat performance of December's debacle (involving me, a couch, and a large bowl).

I think I'll go to the rec center today and pick up my intramural championship t-shirt. I'll make that my banquet attire. Should be classy.

brett at 07:39 AM on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

This song is off Southern Smoke 25, but has actually been around for quite a while. You should listen.

[Lil Flip f. Chamillionaire & Bun B - Platinum Stars]

This probably has the best verse of 2006 on it, courtesy of Chamillionaire.

brett at 01:52 PM on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rolf Potts, author of Vagabonding, has a nice post over at his blog, Vagablogging, about the reasons we travel, and the influences that lie beneath our decisions about where to go.

I particularly like this little snippet, which points out that sometimes travel needs no real impetus other than (as in his example) the smell of pork barbecue.

Feel free to tap personal inspiration - no matter how stolid or silly - when considering where to go. A yen for pork barbecue, for instance, might make you consider visiting Memphis. Curiosity about your ancestry might call you back to Lebanon, Ireland, or Korea. Maybe you'll even hit Djibouti simply because mention of this country once made you giggle in junior high geography class. The most esoteric of interests are a good enough reason to travel someplace.

He's hitting on a few different things here, all important to the meditation that is travel. What he leaves out--but is clearly implied--is that all the planning for that perfect vacation may just lead you to a let down. Sometimes it's better to just go, and not worry about how silly the motivations behind your travel impulses are.

Travel ads are designed to sell you on the idea of a place, its beauty, its meaning, sometimes simply its name. Those ads are often a far cry from what is really to be found there. Nearly all of our most memorable travels were the ones we didn't expect, the ones motivated by some silly impulse.

brett at 11:18 AM on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Justice Peter Smith is hilarious. A few weeks ago he handed down his ruling in the Da Vinci Code plagarism case, 71 pages of opinion that provided a fine canvas for him to insert not only his views on the case, his remarks to witnesses, his own literary criticism, and a history of the Knights Templar, but also a little code of his own.

Embedded in the first 13½ pages of the ruling is Justice Smith's very own secret code, one that when partly solved reveals its name: the Smithy Code.

And it looks like this is just the beginning. The first part of the code was relatively easy to solve--simply find all the typographical mistakes and stitch them together--though the rest his cryptogram seems to have stumped reporters, and he's offering little in terms of clues:

In a brief telephone interview on Wednesday, Justice Smith declined to provide a solution for a puzzled reporter. Nor would he explain how he had put the code in his ruling, or how long it took him to figure out how to do it.

"I can't discuss the judgment until after I retire," he said.

Until after he retires? Cool. I don't care much for the Da Vinci Code, but I love eccentric judges.

There were two arrests yesterday in Murdock slayings case, which isn't really that interesting in and of itself, but the Journal Star article has a nice kicker quote from a resident of the rural town of 200:

“I think I will sleep a little easier at night knowing someone has been arrested for this crime.”

One of my favorite lines of reasoning. As long as someone is in jail, everything is alright. Are you kidding? Do people really think this way? This is why we have a lot of innocent people on death row. Cops know that it doesn't matter if you get the right man every time, just that you get someone everytime.

Also from the Journal Star, a great letter taking aim at my favorite Republican Senate candidate, Pete Ricketts:

Now that I am a registered Republican, I am forced to look hard at candidates and their beliefs. I must ask a question of my fellow Republicans: Do you really think that U.S. Senate candidate Pete Ricketts, a man who is willing to spend millions of his own money, is going to be a responsible steward of our money? It is no wonder he is against inheritance taxes as it appears he will need more of his father’s money to buy this election.

Of course it is not legal, but it would be cheaper for him to just buy votes in a state this sparsely populated. The benefit of this would be that we wouldn’t be forced to see all those commercials; you know, the ones that tell us he is against terrorism. I am still waiting for some politician to come out in favor of terrorism. (Emphasis mine)

Ha. Me too. Great letter, surprising that something so cynical is coming from a Republican, though. Anyway, gave me a chuckle.

brett at 08:26 AM on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today when I woke up and saw the sun beaming in through my window, almost unconsciously I let out a nice, long "yesss" with extra emphasis on the "s." Just like in junior high when your math teacher says there will be no test today.

"Yesssss."

That kind of yes. From the stomach. Yes.

There was no one around to hear me say it today, and it's a bit silly that I was talking to myself at 7 in the morning, but the sun just had that much of an affect on me. The clouds and rain drops and cold winds need to go away and never come back. The precipitation certainly keeps our grass sprouts wet, but I'd much rather water by hand, out in the sun.

Last night I designed my final page for the Daily Nebraskan, and had a damn good time doing it, too. I'm glad it's over, though, because despite making some great friends, I've also met some of the most condescending, pretentious people at the university, I'm sure. I'd tell you all about it, but why bother--it's all over. Good luck on your careers, jerks.

Today I will finish the third of my four classes this semester, leaving only one final next week--in Japanese. Which means it's a non-final, a non-factor, a guaranteed A. My college education is over.

"Yesssss."

And even though I still have two "classes" left to take this summer, Life After College(tm) is already staring me in the face.

When I was in high school I remember thinking of college as this far away place, a sort of dark spot in my brain that was hard to get a handle on. I knew that I would be older, though the number "23" (as in years old) meant very little to me. I assumed that by 23 I would have things figured out, would be headed for a career, would be set to make a lot of money doing something. College was a place where all my unknowns became known, all the things that hadn't been figured out between grades 9 and 12 became figured out, and my future would solidify.

So much for that though.

The idea that college equals success is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on American high school students.

I'm five years more educated, and have two diplomas to show for it, but where am I going? I don't know. What's going to happen? No idea. Can I even get a job? Probably. But, will I be getting paid much? Anybody's guess. Even if I find a job, is it what I want?

I guess I'm realizing that life isn't always that easy--even for someone who has more fomal education than 75 percent of people in the country.

All I know is that my two non-college educated roommates will soon be making much, much more money than Ben Walter and me, who have three degrees between us: economics, international studies, and news-editorial.

Strange how that works out.

brett at 08:58 AM on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, graffiti is back in New York (as if it had ever actually left). Looks like a lot of artists are resorting to a new type of acid mixed with shoe polish or paint to get their tags up on subway windows--and Bloomberg ain't havin' it.

The city's resurgent graffiti problem, on buildings as well as subways, has not escaped the notice of City Hall. In December, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed into law a ban on possession of "graffiti instruments," including etching acid, by anyone under 21. Besides etching acid, the ban covers such things as aerosol paint and broad-tipped indelible markers, which are used by graffiti vandals on buildings.

Looks like something was going on across the street at Amanda's house last night.

The sirens start up, they get closer, and then stop directly in front of your house. Happens a lot around here. I remember the first time we saw flashing lights at that house: it was when police broke down the door and removed a man at gunpoint.

brett at 12:45 AM on April 25, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know I shouldn't use this space to hit back at the half-baked letters published on the editorial page of the Journal Star, but I just can't help myself today (arguing with them on any level, even if only to point out how ridiculous they are, feels like an admission of defeat, somehow). So I won't preface this with anything else. Just read on and see for yourself:

These child predators don’t have to look hard for their next prey. The parents of these children being sexually assaulted are not doing everything they can to protect their children. This community needs to monitor their children a whole lot better instead of putting them in front of a computer unsupervised or letting them run the streets.

These predators that are on the computer looking for their next prey aren’t the only ones that should be charged. The parents should be held accountable as well. (Emphasis mine)

Nice. Left me speechless.

The New York Times is running a short article about endangered languages and what their users are doing to keep them alive. Some neat stuff in the piece, including the reminder that thoughts do not often transfer across languages, despite translation:

In the Basque language, for instance, gender exists only in the second person. "If you're speaking to a woman to ask her, for example, whether she has a book, you say 'Ba dun libururik,' " Mr. Atxaga said. "Whereas, to a man you'd say 'Ba duk libururik.' That nuance of 'n' or 'k' can be important in telling a story. Details are always important in literature."

This is of course true with Japanese as well, though I don't think that thoughts as a whole are distorted, but rather that nuance is lost. Just think: how do you translate something--and wholly preserve its meaning--when a language like Japanese has ten personal pronouns for "I" while English only has one? There is only one choice to translate into, though clearly the meaning is more thoroughly nuanced in the source language than the destination.

I think this is the crux of the issue with translation--good translation. The words are not so important as is the feeling behind them.

For example, Stephen Mitchell's brilliant translation of the Tao Te Ching completely exposes the flawed, word-for-word translations of the exact same document that were so prevalent prior to his publication. His book not only correctly conveys Lao Tzu's original meaning, but also it's feeling. This requires plenty of work on the writer's part, which means knowledge of the source language alone is not enough to produce a solid translation--skill as a writer in the destination language is also a must.

From the same New York Times article, one of the people interviewed helps me deal with the issue of Merriam-Webster changing the definition of the word "literally" to mean its antonym:

We seeded that bitch.

I'm tired and sunburnt. More explanation tomorrow.

Update: So I spent this entire weekend knee deep in dirt. Well, not literally, but I was definitely encrusted in mud and covered in a full-body sunburn by the time Sunday night arrived.

I spent most of Saturday just doing random maintainance crap around the yard, picking up sticks, digging out saplings, cleaning up the edges around the fence. That kind of thing. I also tried to destroy the far East entrance to the yard, which proved to be incredibly difficult because there was a sort of woodchip base ontop of a tarp, which was also covered in hundred of rocks.

Rolling up the tarp was futile, as the rocks made it too heavy to lift, and it simply ripped in half.

That meant it had to be done by hand. Ugh.

Ben Walter spent a lot of time sitting there picking up pebble after pebble until it was all finished. I had started a collection of rocks in a bucket, but he finished it--and I'm very happy I didn't have to. What a headache.

After that was all done, Ben and I took turns tilling the shit out of the yard, just to spread some oxygen around and get the dirt mixed up. Though we had removed a lot of the debris, completely cleaning it out proved impossible, so we went through several cycles of tilling, raking and bagging. The tiller was actually a lot of fun. It sounds a lot like a chainsaw, but there's no reason to worry about severing a limb when using it.

I also dug up the flowerbed next to the house as best I could, and removed a giant concrete slab from the yard. I think it's original purpose was for a downspout to rest, though nearly all of our gutters are gone, so it was pointless to leave it there.

Sunday was more of the same. Cleaning up shit around the yard.

I got up relatively early and got my big red truck that I had stashed at my grandfather's house. I also stole his mower while I was there so that we could trim the front lawn a bit (overgrown with dandelions).

The next hour and a half was spent moving the giant pile of wood from the ground, to the truck. Nice workout that turned out to be. Then I hauled it back down to my grandpa's place and unloaded it (since his garbage man will pick up that kind of shit, and ours won't).

Speaking of my grandpa, tomorrow is his 86th birthday. Eighty-six. Man that's amazing.

After packing all the wood up, I went and bought some wire fencing and staples to keep the dog out of our yard. Around the edges of the yard, I dug a trench into which I sunk some long, thin boards. I reason that this will provide some decent edging to the actual yard rather than having it run directly into the neighbors property. Once the boards were in, I took to installing the fence, which proved to be pretty simple, though I think there must be a better way to do it, because it still looks a bit loose. I suppose if I had some help it could have turned out a bit better.

The final bit of yardwork for the evening was the seeding.

We actually got it done.

The sun was starting to set, but Spadt and I were determined. We took turns tilling the yard, then we spread in a bunch of new lawn fertilizer, and tilled again. After that we sowed the red fescue seeds into our pulverized lawn and watered it down.

Hopefully in a week or two we should have a nice, thick, grassy carpet to play on.

brett at 06:10 PM on April 23, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

brett at 06:49 PM on April 22, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a bit more to elaborate on after yesterday's post.

Spadt and I spent more than a few hours in the yard yesterday, and with the help of a new shovel and rake, managed to do a decent job of tilling the yard by hand--though I did bump in to Junebug last night, and he has confirmed that an actual tilling machine is in his possession.

We pulled up a ludicrous amount of roots, bulbs and tree stumps, and discovered that we had a wide variety of onions growing back there.

If we hope to seed the lawn on Sunday, we are going to need to remove the rest of the debris, which has been piled up, but more importantly, we are going to need to zero in on the fence line, which is where a lot of crap is still stuck. The fence toward the front of the yard is by far the worst. There is a tarp there that has tons of mulch and rocks piled on top of it, and we need to some how remove that. It doesn't help that it's crawling with ants.

After removing the rest of the crap, and cleaning up the edges, we can toss on the fertilizer, till it and water it in. Then we can lay the seed.

I'm still a bit concerned about the fence though, as we will need to put something up to keep the neighbor's dog out of the way. After our work yesterday, I realized we have a lot more natural fertilizer in the yard than I had first thought.

Other, secondary plans for the weekend: load up the truck with the wood scraps. Mow our front yard. Get chainlink. Dig up the flowerbed next to the house.

brett at 10:30 AM on April 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

David Plotz, deputy editor over at Slate, nails it today during a podcast:

"We've reached this point where nobody knows what to think. The evidence that's been released publicly is so ambiguous in every possible way, and it's just become this incredible rorschach test for people to talk about race and class and sex and violence and lacrosse."

He's of course referring to the Duke lacrosse debacle that is still churning its way through the rotten bowels of the media like some bad Asian food. The new juicy info today is that the 2nd stripper didn't see the alleged rape, but she goes on to say:

"In all honesty, I think they're guilty. And I can't say which ones are guilty ... but somebody did something besides underage drinking. That's my honest-to-God impression."

Whoa, baby. This is just starting to get good. I can't wait for the verdict, and all the arguments I'm going to have with my father about race, violence and his perceived bias of the judicial system to favor African-Americans. Right, dad. It's too bad this isn't happening around a big holiday, because I'd love to talk with my relatives, too. I'm sure they'll have some lovely things to say.

Bad news for pot smokers, and only a day after 4/20: FDA dismisses medical benefit from marijuana. Take that, hippies.

And speaking of 4/20, we were almost treated to a Columbine part 2, though the plot was foiled. By who? Why, MySpace, of course.

Apparently, they had been plotting since the beginning of the school year. Norman said school officials began investigating Tuesday after learning a threatening message had been posted on MySpace.com.

"The message, it was brief, but it stated that there was going to be a shooting at the Riverton school and that people should wear bulletproof vests and flak jackets," Norman said.

I don't know about you, but everytime I plan a school shooting, I always send out a MySpace bulletin. Nice job, dudes.

Slate has a nice piece from a couple of days ago titled: Why I Quit Blogging, a subject I'm quit familiar with myself--I've quit, but I'm back. My life is just that hollow, apparently (though my reasons for quitting are much different than this author's, I still feel like I know what she's saying).

The blog was the perfect bluff for a self-conscious writer like me who yearned for the spotlight and then squinted in its glare. When I needed to pretend that people were reading, I could. When I needed to pretend that nobody was reading, I could.

Mildly interesting, I guess.

brett at 08:51 AM on April 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spadt and I hit it hard this afternoon.

It looks like we may actually be able to seed the lawn by Sunday, and the forecast says that the weather is going to cooperate as well. There's still a ton of minor stuff to be done, but today we accomplished a lot, and this seems like it may be realistic after all.

brett at 07:22 PM on April 20, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't stop listening to this song off Southern Smoke 25 (the Pimp C is free edition).

[Paul Wall f. Lil Keke & Pimp C & Bun B - Chuck Up Da Deuce]

Just thought I'd share.

brett at 11:04 AM on April 20, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I registered for my last class. Last meaning final. Meaning the end. It's over. After I finish up Mass Media and Society in the first five week summer session, all that will remain is an independent study which requires a 15 page paper and 25 hours of volunteer work.

Then, it's over.

I'll have two degrees and be headed out into the "real world," or something like that.

But according to this New York Times piece, my prospects aren't looking so hot, and I'll be relying on support from my family for a long time to come.

Unlike young adults who "boomerang" back home to live with their parents — the subject of the recent comedy "Failure to Launch" — these young people live independently. But they need help to make ends meet, or put another way, to maintain a middle-class way of life.

The bottom line is that the assumption that financial obligations to children ended after graduation from high school or college is going the way of the pay phone. Today, parents are finding that they are on the hook for more, sometimes much more — contributions of thousands of dollars a year to help young men and women get on their feet economically, often into their 30's.

This has been the topic of more than a few recent books and articles--the idea that college graduates, despite having degrees, will only be squeaking by--and is very apparent to me, as my job prospects (despite two degrees) are less than bleak, they are nonexistent.

Some critics say it's not that the job market is any worse than before, it's simply that students like me have refused to come of age, and are afraid of suffering through the lean post-college years where Ramen and PBJ sandwiches are the main fare.

There's definitely some truth to that.

It's just kind of frustrating, however, knowing that my college education was worth very little in terms of marketability to potential employers. College diplomas don't make an interviewee much more marketable, simply because everybody has one these days. The college diploma is the new high school diploma, I guess.

But then again, I could have chosen a degree in IT.

As author Anya Kamenetz says, "The question I have to pose to people is: What are you hoping to get out of your college degree? It is not an automatic pass to a good job."

brett at 09:28 AM on April 20, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lincoln needs to tear down the Starship, ASAP.

It's been on the agenda for a while--since at least February--and it seems like nearly every day there's a letter to the editor in the Journal Star with someone bitching about the tragedy that would result in the loss of Lincoln's only discount theater. "No more discount tickets! How will we see movies!!? What will the students do? It's all we have!! And all for a parking garage!!"

Two things.

One: the Starship is a piece of shit. Despite being built in the 90s, it has deteriorated into a pile of trash, by far the worst theater in town. Two: a high rise trumps a discount theater and is a lot different than a parking garage; and by the way, tickets in Lincoln are cheap compared to any other metropolitan area in the country. Maybe you'd know if you left the city limits once in a while.

I guess I'm just tired of reading letters trashing Coleen Seng every day in the editorial section. People are either mad about the fact that she wants to tear down the Starship, or that she doesn't want Wal*Mart invading our community, or whatever. People need to realize that she's got it right. She's a good mayor.

Oh, and remember the time she made Dick Cheney pay for his visit to Lincoln? That wasn't so bad.

brett at 10:08 AM on April 19, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The destruction of a tree, the destruction of a fence.

So satisfying. Not looking forward to loading it in a truck.

brett at 12:56 AM on April 19, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's early morning news on the net is just filled with all kinds of little gems, the first of which is sure to keep the shitstorm over in North Carolina spinning at full strength: Two Duke lacrosse players are arrested.

Oh boy, this is going to get good. Especially considering that there is--as of yet--no DNA evidence linking the suspects to the rape or assault. On one side you have a bunch of rich white kids, on the other side you have a lower-income, single black mother of two with an arrest record. You've got all kinds of inconclusive circumstancial evidence, and both sides slinging mud at each other. Not to mention this story encompasses two college campuses that are about as different as they could be.

One of my favorite quotes from the story comes from a father of two lacross players on the team, who said he talked to his sons about the alleged incident.

"I asked him 10 times. I said, 'Did anything happen?' Both my sons ... all they ever told me was 'Dad, nothing happened. Nobody did anything,' " Loftus said.

Well no-fucking-shit.

In other inflammatory race-related news, the Nebraska state unicameral has managed to hit the national wires with their brilliant plan (backed by Ernie Chambers) to effectively segregate Omaha Public Schools.

This turned up at number 3 on Yahoo's most read/e-mailed news articles list at 9:30 a.m. this morning. I'm certain it would be number one if it wasn't competing with those two Duke arrestees.

Now I'm just waiting for this photo of Ernie to appear at the top of the most e-mailed pictures.

I mean really, what a monster. The guy could probably bench press 400 pounds with one hand. And he's like 65 years old. Here's hopin'.

brett at 09:24 AM on April 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I had a chance to (finally) talk with Spadt, who came home around 6 p.m.

We both agree that the best course of action is to till the entire yard, and prepare it for seeding. Hopefully, with work over the next few days we can clean up the debris, and by Sunday morning be ready to toss down some seed. The tilling machine should be at our house by Wednesday, and we also will be gaining a chainsaw and other tools to remove the tree stump and dismantle the dog house.

Only spent about an hour clearing out the brush today, due to work, but did manage to make some progress. The thing is, every time I go out and look at it I get lost and just have no idea what to do. There's so much junk, so many weeds, so much to remove before we can begin building again. Oh, and that's not to mention that Spadt and I broke the shovel today. I guess it was about time for a trip to the hardware store anyway. I need tools.

This view is looking toward the tree stump and the fence that our neighbor's dog destroyed. We plan to destroy the rest of the fence, and buy some chain link to staple up, since the posts are still firm in the ground. Hopefully that will keep the dog out (I accidentally stepped in a few of his landmines today, yuck).

Another view, this time facing east. It looks like this portion of the yard (which will be the main grassy area) should get enough sunlight from both the East and West to get it growing well. Spadt suggested laying rocks in the path that lies between the flower beds, as it is thin and will be handling a lot of traffic, probably too much to grow any substantial grass.

I also suffered my first battle injury today when our rose bush decided it wanted to grab on to my heel. Ouch.

More to come.

brett at 11:40 PM on April 17, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fixing up the yard is daunting. But at least the area we're dealing with is small and won't be overwhelming, nor overly expensive. It will, however, be a lot of work, but it should make a nice summer project. So a good step to take would be to outline a list of things that need to be done in order to really get the ball rolling.

The best approach, it seems to me, would be to hurry and seed the lawn as soon as possible, since it is sitll early Spring, if we move fast and get the yard tilled and planted we could have grass as soon as May 20th, if not earlier. Afte the grass is seeded the flowerbeds and so-forth can be taken care of. We will need to get a tiller, seed, a hose and water as well as various fertilizer supplies. Luckily, there really isn't too much area to seed, since a lot of the backyard is bricked off flowerbed areas.

In the short-term we will need to destroy the dog house, have the lumber picked up, and finish removing all the brush and weeds covering the areas that will become grass. We can also pick up the seed and other supplies such as hoses during this time.

One of the main parts will be to ensure that we have a tiller and a way to spread the seed. We should be able to borrow the former from JB, though I'm not sure about the latter yet.

brett at 01:24 PM on April 17, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since Spring is here, it's time to clean up the yard and get it ready for summer.

No easy task at 1324 S 11th St.

The backyard is a veritable jungle that is home to a variety of plant (and animal) species that I've never encountered in my life. Just looking at the backyard was intimidating enough, let alone actually wading into the tangle of weeds, grass, flowers, bushes, etc, that covered the ground. The yard has probably been neglected for a decade at least, if not longer. I figure probably since the late 80s. The prior owner was clearly interested in gardening, but whoever took over after he/she left, has let the yard fall into a state of complete disrepair.

Deciding where to begin was a serious decision in itself.

So I didn't decide. I just jumped in and started clearing shit out of the way.

After two days of work, I have cleared out nearly all of the vine growth that covered the back of the house/power lines/trellises, and also removed a huge amount of random debris that was scattered throughout the yard. Tearing down the dead vines was quite a task. Last summer, they covered the entire West wall of the house, had grown across the street via the power lines, and had nearly made the backdoor inaccessible. Quite the invasive little guys.

I cleaned out all the planters and turned the soil, and actually planted a few marigolds just for fun, though the serious planting has yet to begin.

The brunt of Sunday's work was clearing underbrush (sticks, weeds, etc) and tearing down a dead tree--which I was able to do using a rusty handsaw, a machete and my bare hands. How long it has been dead is a mystery, but it succumbed to almost everything I threw at it, and was eventually reduced to a stump and a pile of branches and limbs. There's something quite satisfying about destroying a tree with little more than your own brute strength.

I also spent a considerable amount of time turning one large flowerbed, and removing pieces of a fence that the neighbor dog had destroyed.

I filled 6 large lawn bags.

So this is where we stand after two days of work, viewed from the back porch. It doesn't look like much yet, but you have no idea where we started. The stone path that in the center of the picture was invisible due to the years of grime that had been deposited on top of it. The dirt against the garage (once a flowerbed) was teeming with weeds, and in the upper right of the photo there was a large, large tree (still in the photo, but as a large pile of sticks). I really should have taken a picture of what it looked like from the very begininng, untouched, neglected...

And here is just the beginning of what is sure to become a massive collection of yard bags. I will eventually need to call the garbage men, but for now I'll store them in the giant two stall garage.

Monday's work will probably be more of the same: clearing out debris, fighting with two rose bushes, and destroying weeds. Also, there is a doghouse I need to reduce to rubble.

Question: where can I take the huge amount of sticks/fence wood that I have and no longer need?

brett at 11:17 PM on April 16, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Easter is right around the corner, the only talented member of D12 is dead, and the Tequila Mockinbirds edged out the Red Dragons in men's intramural soccer division C pool play last night to bring their record to 1-1.

Also: I'm hungry.

Such a bittersweet morning.

The Washington Post is running a little report on its web front today about the serious water shortage in Somalia, and in Africa, something that probably doesn't cross most American's minds on a daily basis.

"Before I go anywhere in Somalia, I pray. If someone is thirsty, they can shoot you for a glass of water. There's no police to come and no government to say anything," said Sheik Ibrahim Khail, 53.

And though it seems outrageous to not know where your next (non-alcoholic) drink will come from, it is reality for plenty of Africans, and water issues are gradually becoming a reality for some Americans, too. As I read this article today, my coffee (brewed with Planet Earth brand distilled water!) went down a little harder, but not that hard--because, hey! I'm American, and we don't care about much besides ourselves. Which reminds me, I forgot to deduct the 20$ donation I made to Pakistani earthquake victims from my taxes. Shoot.

It's just too easy to distance oneself from what's going on across an ocean. Espcially true when there's stories like the Duke LaCrosse debacle making the rounds. Slate ran a great piece a few days ago indicting LaCross players nationwide as a cross between the preppy elite and the boorish jock.

Still, how could college lacrosse players be any more misogynous than your typical football-team steakhead? Perhaps it's because, unlike their football brethren, an unusually large proportion of college lacrosse players spend their high school years in sheltered, all-boys academies before heading off to liberal co-ed colleges. Most guys from single-sex schools are able to adjust. Others join the lacrosse team.

Great stuff. I particularly like the e-mail from Ryan McFadyen that he signed with his jersey number. Some seriously inspired prose:

"i plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceeding to cut their skin off while cumming in my duke issue spandex..."

Bravo. Extra points for the timing and use of university e-mail address.

Finally, USA Today reveals that the way CEOs treat wait staff is an indication of their character. Well no-fucking-shit. Who would have guessed that berating a server at your local sushi joint over a power lunch isn't exactly the most attractive quality in upper management?

brett at 10:00 AM on April 14, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello.

This is going to be my new blog, though I don't know how much I'll actually be writing in it. I've done away with the skeet blog, but it is still available online if you really want to read it.

We'll see what comes of this.

brett at 10:29 AM on April 13, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)