I Am Withdrawing My Candidacy

I was totally wrong in that last post...I HAD written something about politics before, which would have made the last post my SECOND politics related post ever.

And this will be the THIRD.

Capital LETTERS. What writer use for emPHASis.

Can We Just Agree That You Both Have a Huge Impact on the Election?

Without a doubt, the most important debate at the University of Texas this week took place on the West Mall just 20 minutes ago, featuring an Obama supporter reminding people about his rally in downtown Austin tonight and a Ron Paul supporter handing out flyers about his rally on campus tomorrow:

Paul Supporter: That's not the way it works in other countries.
Obama Supporter: I've been to 25 countries. How many have you been to?
Paul Supporter: Well all I know is that I shouldn't have to be penalized if I don't want health care! I use preventative measures--its called riding a bike, eating well, being outdoors!!

Take THAT, Lance Armstrong! You got cancer because you...didn't eat well, I guess? Hmm. Also, wouldn't you want health care if you were...riding...a...bike?

And just so that I appear unbiased here in my first politically related post ever...to Magellan of the 21st Century, who's been to 25 countries, which I think qualifies you for World Traveler Status on Pan Am: when you are circumnavigating the globe on the Mimi, do me a favor and tell people you're from, let's say, Canada. Thanks.

Your Call is Important to Us

Eddie: i'm on hold
everytime a song stops
and another one is about to start
i get excited like they are gonna pck up
as if they are waiting for music to finish before placing me off hold

me: hahaha

Beardy Update III - Take What You Can Get

Okay, so I just arm-wrestled Heather and DOMINATED TO THE X-TREME. Maybe you are reading this thinking: "Did Andrew really just count an arm-wrestling victory against a girl?" In my defense, we used our right arms and I won in less than 3 minutes. Okay maybe it was four.

Now if I can find the tree trimmer, I'll be shaving in no time.

Beardy Update II

I won 3 of 7 pickup games yesterday at our weekly grad basketball session. That is not more than 50 percent.

Time to break out the Scrabble board!

Beardy Face Backup Plan

Three to Zip. Shutout. Crap.


We lost our IM soccer game, if you couldn't tell. That means I can't shave before WSCA this weekend, at which I'm supposed to look vaguely presentable. Technically I have no more intramural games until next week, so I'm going to have to resort to Super Extra Backup Plan B2 Beta 2.0, which is winning the majority of the weekly grad pickup games this Wednesday at 5 pm. That better work out because you don't even want to know what Plan C is. Okay, you probably do: Scrabble against Heather.

I Will Stop the Penalty Kick with my Face

If I make a deal with myself in my head, do I have to stick to it? If no one hears it? I can just break off the deal at anytime, right? Question mark? Wilson?

I decided to use an old motivational tool often used sports, and I'm afraid it's going to backfire. Here's the situation: with regards to winning percentage, I'm on probably the worst two-year run I've ever had in organized amateur sports. It's abysmal. 2-7 in PCAL summer basketball. 2-7 in spring basketball. 6-6 in PCAL basketball last year. 1-3 in intramural football (I'm not counting our second win--it was a forfeit). 0-3-1 in IM soccer. and something like 3-5-1 in kickball, which really shouldn't even count (although we did have a championship game for our "A" kickball team, but I played in that game and we lost!).

So in "real" amateur sports, the teams I have played on are 11-26-1 in the last two years. I'm not a math major, but if I consulted one on this he would come to the conclusion that the winning percentage derived from that record is: bad. Not "but there were some good games in there" bad. More like "you should really consider the common link on all those teams" bad.

Now we're entering my favorite season for intramurals: spring, the season of diamond-based sports and allergies. I will be playing at least 3 short-field soccer games, 8 softball games, and a few indoor soccer matches as well. I haven't really put any goals on the season in terms of winning percentage, but I did think to myself: "wouldn't it be funny if the teams I played on went 0-for-the-spring?" I thought I'd have at least make one victory a reason to celebrate, so I decided not to shave until we won our first game. What a motivator I am! I'm like Jack Welch.

I really don't know if my personal motivation has anything to do with 11-26-1, but maybe it does, and that's enough to make me try something different. Unfortunately, I kind of miscalculated the amount of games before the WSCA conference in Denver this weekend, at which I should probably look presentable. Three mistakes on my part: 1) I thought we would have more soccer games before mid-February, 2) I thought I was going to play intramural basketball, which I ended up not doing, and 3) I forgot that we were trying to get a first-week bye for kickball (yes, I would have counted kickball) because some people were going early to WSCA.

So now my face looks like this...

...and we have one game left before WSCA (we lost our first soccer game last week).

I guess my question is not really based on whether I have to keep my promise to myself, but honestly if things like this actually motivate people. I wonder if I am truly going to play differently with the added pressure of the possibility of a hairy face at WSCA, or if I do it because I want to add a little more excitement to the game. You would think wanting to win would be exciting enough!

We'll see how it goes on Tuesday night; I'd imagine Heather might pay off the other team.

Share Your Bread, Child

Hey kid, stop taunting the ducks.

Heather and I went for a walk around the lake today (or is it a river?...okay, it's now called Lady Bird Lake. I guess she earned it but I'm still calling it "the lake"). We saw lots of birds and it turns out waterfowl have all sorts of ridiculous names, like coot, scoter, wigeon, and muscovy.

Let me tell you something about muscovies that you will not find in any encyclopedia: they are ugly. That's not my opinion, that's scientific fact. Want to know how ugly? Hey, check it out for yourself.

I apologize if you barfed on your keyboard. The fact that it looks like its brains are on the outside is not some deformity specific to that single duck in the picture; it's what makes muscovies distinct, according to bird guides. Hey you know what else makes them distinct? Not getting dates to the bird prom. Yes, they have bird proms here. Keep Austin Weird.

I Would Have Passed Out Around Mile 2

Darrell and Becky came up from San Antonio a few weekends ago to run in the 3M Austin Half-Marathon. Many of you may think that is admirable, to run 13 miles. But isn't it more admirable to show up and watch people run? When you could have slept in? No? Okay.

For the record, Darrell and Becky have two small children, so the easiest plan for them was to sleep for a few hours in own home, wake up at 3:30 a.m., drive for two hours, and then run. In honor of them, below is a picture of many tired people crossing the finish line.

The only way I will ever run 13 miles for fun is if you have someone chasing me. Or a steak at the end.

This Sandwich Tastes Like Beer

Don't drink Old Rasputin unless you've ever wanted to know what bread and alcohol in a blender would taste like.



(This is my first attempt at a photo blog from my phone. Whoopee!)

At Least they Wanted to Vote

I'm sure CNN is very happy to keep this article on their front page all day. It makes Texans seem so educated, right?

More than 1,000 calls poured into the Bexar County Elections Department on
Monday from voters wanting to know where they could vote in Tuesday's primary.
Problem is -- Texas isn't holding a primary on Tuesday, like more than 20 states
are.

This is so like those Texans--always trying to be more like Maine and West Virginia. No state pride down there.

Super Tuesday Not For Bexar Voters [KSAT via CNN]