2003 march 31

PLAY BALL!!! last night the start of the major league baseball season kicked off in anaheim. i think texas won, i only got to see a couple of innings. go cubbies and white sox!!! yes, i am back to being a fair weather fan.

what happened to my picks in the ncaa tourney. going into the elite eight i was in second place in the krui sports challenge. now i am sitting in fourth with no teams left. all my final four teams decided to take a dive. i am cheering for marquette to win it all.

2003 march 29

yesterday my tv production class went on a field trip to kgan in cedar rapids. we were there to observe the 5 o'clock news. it was interesting to watch how everything is put together. i even got to sit in the anchor chair while we were messing around with their cameras. the news business is highly scripted and no room for an individual work. i love the news but starting out making no money would be rough.

i also got my third library card ever. yes, that is right i am now a member of the iowa city library community. they have a great selections of movies including the castle. this australian comedy is a riot. i checked it out to watch with katie (roomie) last night. we were laughing our heads of. it is true what they say in the movie, a man's house is his home. tj made us watch it for christmas when we were in australia. i recommend it to everyone.

2003 march 26

wow, bill clinton can still give a hell of a speech. he spoke on the global security of the 21st century. clinton spoke about zero sum games and how we need to eliminate them. he stressed that the world is more interdependent not only in economics but security. every countries actions has reactions in another part of the world. clinton also spoke about the war a little. he stressed the importance of supporting the troops. he talked about how china, russia, and france turned their back on a un resolution they signed that called for the removal of sadam if iraq did not disarm (pete you probably know which one that is exactly). bill also brought up that humanitarian aid and money to countries would help stop the spread of fighting and terrorism. clinton stated that the situation in north korea is similar to a middle child that does not feel loved and will break the cookie jar to get attention. he pointed out that north korea does not grow corn like iowa, the grow bombs and missiles. these bombs and missiles are their way to get money. he felt that north korea's current move of threats is similar to the cookie jar incident in that they are just seeking attention.

i am now stuck in a lab typing up a 10 page paper on vladimir putin. yes, i already had one that i did sophomore year, and yes i am using it as a guide. in order to be a good student and not cheat the system i am revamping my last paper on him to make it more up to date. it is interesting to see all the changes that have happened in the world since i last wrote the paper. oddly enough i wrote the paper on march 26, 2001. scary how teachers assign things at the same time.

2003 march 25

2003 march 20

it was an eerie feeling watching the first strikes against iraq today on tv at jeff's house. there was nothing going on in baghdad, just silence. the sun was rising through the clouds, and no traffic on the streets, it was peaceful. then came the sounds of war and anti-aircraft fire. it reminded me of fourth of july when m80s are being blown up down the block.

through the last few months i would have placed myself in the anti-war group. i have recently begun debating what stance i should take now. the u.s. did give sadam enough time to disclose weapons of mass destruction, and destroy illegal missiles (sadam never acting as though he wanted to prevent the conflict). when westerners went to iraq to be part of a human shield they were sent to oil fields. it just doesn't make sense. none of this really makes sense.

hopefully baghdad returns to the peaceful place i saw on tv before these strikes tonight. i am going to continue to support our troops and pray for a quick resolution. i will never buy freedom fries to support someone that wants to cash in on this horrific event. so i will be critical of the events taking place in iraq taking the side of pro quick resolution.

2003 march 19

today keep my best friend jeff and his family in your prayers. jeff's grandfather joe died last thursday. joe was always a funny man when i would see him at their family parties.
i think i am cursed when rice plays in a supersectional. i have been to all three of their supersectional games over the years, and they have lost each one. i think the next time they get that far in the tournament i will stay home.

this thursday night i will be heading out to niu to visit pete, timmy, mike, and fech. it should be a good time, and harold's chicken better be open.

2003 march 17

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! the parade yesterday was unreal. i have never witnessed so many people at that parade. i think the 70 degree weather helped get the 370,000 people out to western ave. after the marshalling duties were over tom, kevin, and i started boozing over at tom's. it is always fun to drink with the hayes family. i also saw a lot of friends that i have not seen in a few years. i saw jim sivicek for the first time since july 3rd 2001. i also ran into marcy and kat from aqua. it was nice to catch up with them.

tonight i am heading to the br. rice supersectional game at the united center. if they win this it will be their first trip down state. go crusaders! also go iowa beat valpo in the first round of the nit tonight!

2003 march 15

finally, i am back in chicago. yesterday before i left iowa city i went to lunch with mkb and her friend kate. it was a nice surprise to hear that they both were in iowa. mkb was a little freaked out by the down home feel of the chill and grill.

last night was a riot. tom, kevin, katie (sis), angie, janann, and i went to ziggy's side door pub. it is always a great time when kevin and tom get up to the mic to sing and play guitar. their 20 minute rendition of knocking on heavens door got a rise out of the crowd.

tomorrow is the south side irish parade, look for tom, kevin, and i along 103rd lining up floats.

2003 march 14

another disaster happened last night with the old people's marching band film. after meeting with our professor we find out that my group needs to add in more voice overs and change some sequences. this meant another 5 hours in the lab. tim and i calculated that we spent around 21 hours working on a 5 minute project. at around 9 last night we finished our final copy (this time i mean final).

after we finished editing natalie left for florida on spring break, while tim and i headed to the bars. after your brain has rotted for that long in front of a camera and a computer screen there is nothing better than getting drunk. we went to the sanctuary where thursday is $2.50 guinness. ah guinness, the beer of the gods. after drinking a couple i passed out at home not able to think of all the time i wasted working on this project.

i am coming home today for a much deserved spring break. if your going to the parade look for me i will be one of the many parade marshals (we wear white jackets and i should be on the west side). i don't want to think about any type of filming or editing.

2003 march 13

so last night natalie, tim, and i spent 5 hours in the epb finishing our project. turns out are professor wants all the projects in on wednesday during spring break. the problem is no one from my group will be within 200 miles of iowa city next week. thank god, we were able to finish at about 2am last night. i think the new horizon senior band will love our little video.

today starts the big ten tourney and iowa is up right now by 4 against ohio state. i hope we can at least pull out one or two victories to help our nit chances. how great would it be tom, uic v. iowa!

thanks katie tulley for posting on the guestbook. we will hang out when we get in. i can't wait to see ya.

2003 march 11

last night i spent 4 hours working on 2 minutes of film for video essay class. i love the old people playing in the band, but not enough to watch the footage for that long. tonight we have to meet again to work on it for the rough draft due tomorrow. it looks like i will be doing nothing but editing for the rest of the week, yeah! the other groups we were working with were a riot. most of the four hours was spent laughing which is nice to do. people tend to get goofy after hours and hours in a little room.

president bush signed one piece of legislation that no american will oppose, the "do not call" bill.

2003 march 10

last friday katie (roomie) and i rented mulholland drive, a david lynch film. if you have watched any of david lynch's movies you know they are a little weird. i must admit it was the only film he has made that i could remotely stay interested in for more than 15 minutes. if anyone one could explain what the hell happened in that movie shout me a holla.

i feel lately that my life has revolved around television. two of my classes are based on video and television production. i find myself watching more local news in order to critique camera angles and shots. i need to get out away from tv it is slowly shutting off my brain.

i can't wait to be home for spring break this week. i have not seen my family in 8 weeks! gess, i have not been outside of iowa in 8 weeks. that is not a good thing.

2003 march 7

two midterms down and one more to go! today's tv production midterm was not horrible. there was one essay that was pretty tricky, but i think i got it. the best part of the exam was the extra point if you could name all the words to "o canada" or name 20 nhl teams. i was able to do the 20 nhl teams, so yeah a point for me. i was also the first person to finish the exam. i never know if that is a good sign or a bad one. i think it was a good sign during this exam.

i ran into john today who hooked me up with a student ticket for saturday's b-ball game against northworstern. i am excited, it is my first time ever sitting in the hawks nest for a b-ball game. if we win then we are in the nit, which is more than i expected from the team this year.

i awoke in time for hans blix report to the u.n. today on the status of iraq weapon inspections. hans blix is worse than carson daly with trying to be friends with everyone. blix it seems does not want war by saying that iraq is complying by destroying al samoud 2. he refutes his own arguments though by saying iraq is not moving fast enough or providing enough info. hey blix, what is it going to be, yes iraq is complying with u.n. resolution 1441 or no they are not, we can't wait forever? the fact is that no matter what happens the u.s. is throwing down v. iraq sometime around march 16th or 17th.

only in america could the hooters resturant chain start an airlines corporation. i hope they serve wings on the flight.

2003 march 6

things have been so busy with midterms starting today that i could not write a log yesterday. tuesday night rachel (roomie) and i braved the snowy weather to see opening night of riverdance at the hancher auditorium. i recommend it to everyone i know, and if you are irish it should be a requirement to see it. nothing kicks of march better than irish dancing and green milkshakes from mc donald's. i love being irish.

last night jen and i watched the travel channel's 10 best pools in las vegas. it made me want to go to vegas this summer and gamble a little bit.

speaking of gambling, i saw the greatest painting in the world today in the art building. i always cut through the art building to warm up and cut down the walk time to campus. this time i was surprised to see that some one had painted a picture of the gambler himself, kenny rogers. it was a great painting and it looked just like him. i should take it off the wall and hang it at my place.

congrats to the wisconsin badgers 2003 big ten basketball champs, i picked them to win the big ten on the sports show about 6 weeks ago. i said illinois was to young this year to do it, and purdon't was going to slip on the banana peel (which they did). katie tulley i hoped you rushed the floor at the end of the game!

2003 march 4

CONGRATULATIONS to jeff budiselich on your graduation last friday from devry. way to stick out the tough times and hard classes. i will get you a happy meal when i hit chicago.

so last week i had to film instead of going to my russian and post soviet politics class. today was supposed to be the midterm until i showed up and found out it was pushed to thursday, lucky me! in class today i found out that one of the student's mother was in a horrible car accident. it was the first time at iowa i have heard a professor care about a students personal life. the professor said he would also buy a card to circulate it around class. it shows that some professors actually do care about students in this large class room environment.

for anyone coming to the st. patrick's day parade on the south side this year try and find me. i am going to be bringing a whole lot of cooper's to the parade this year. i hope that dirty john's grocery has a new supply cause i am buying it out. nothing is more irish than an australian beer in hand.

congratulations sydney, australia on becoming the 4th best city to live in the world. i would believe it, tj i am jealous. thank you, aunt sue for signing the guestbook, i love you as well.

check out the new 10 for the 1st week of march.

2003 march 3

last night i found another reality television show to love, the michael essany show. it was the first time i have ever heard refrences to b96, the daily southtown, and valpo university. i thought the show was a riot. i must admit i also watched the start of season 2 of anna nicole. she is still an idiot, but the first show was pretty funny. it was basically a satire about joe millionare.

in the next two weeks i have 3 midterms and a ton of editing to do for tv production and video essay. i hate taking midterms!

2003 march 1

i am almost finished with my first tom clancy novel, red rabbit. i am about one hundred pages away. i must say mr. clancy is one fine writer. i think this series will hold me over until the new harry potter book is released this summer.

yesterday i picked up the new norah jones album to see what all the fuss was about. i enjoyed it. basically, if you like slow relaxing music with a jazzy touch you will enjoy norah jones. to balance out the calm and relaxing music i also picked up the andrew w.k. cd. for a long time now i have been a huge fan of andrew's deep lyrics. i mean how more profound can you get with a song called party hard.
the radio show this morning had a rough start. all the schedules were messed up making it tough to play the right spot block. on top of that my favorite bands were played before me so i could not play them on my shift. i was happy that i got about six request (which is a high number for any dj at krui).

any one interested in coming to iowa city, i have another ticket for the slick willy speech on march 26th. shout me a holla for the extra ticket. i also posted the february archive, so check it out.