weekend happenings, a defense of VM....oh yeah, and a ghost

some brief (hopefully) highlights (and lowlights) of an eventful weekend:

-welcomed back JK and her family from 3 weeks in Ireland, got awesome souvenirs (a Trinity College t-shirt, Guinness paperweight with actual Guinness inside and 2 tall cans of Irish beer)....I have the coolest ex-gf/best friend around

-watched the season finale of Veronica Mars, if you don't watch the show...WATCH IT!! even though its drama, I laugh out loud many times every episode at the brilliant writing, only one of 3 shows that I laugh for every episode (Scrubs and Boston Legal the only other two)....I know, this is when you dismiss it as a "high school" show or say that I watch it only b/c she makes me. but this season has consisted of: a bomb on a school bus that blew it off a cliff, multiple murders including one guy being handcuffed to a sink in a stadium that was imploded, rape accusations, STDs, bribery, sex, blown murder trials, child molestation by the guy from Police Academy, and shocking criminal masterplans. Does that sound like a "high school show" to you? seriously...watch it, I'll even get you started if you want

-Mud Hens double-header Friday night, stayed longer than my dad...listened to the game on my radio when he left, whats more lame (especially to the ladies) a guy watching a baseball game alone or trying to look busy by listening to the radio call of the game he's at? finished off looking lame by watching the fireworks...by myself

-saw The Da Vinci Code with the folks, liked it better than I thought I would...still liked the book better. Tom Hanks grew on me, though, that hair?! hoping the better Angels and Demons will get made too...filled out a survey for "Ron Howard" apparently

-watched HP and the Goblet of Fire, best movie so far based on the best book so far

-the often-infamous WSJP Memorial Day party at Castle Chach, perhaps a smaller crowd than normal but good times had by all. great softball game...made a great catch, Chach got drilled in the head by an errant Corey through (or was it?...good food as always, way too many asses seen (well mens' asses anyway), Chach was going to help me out but kinda failed :-) but not through lack of effort....I think

-another Hens game monday night..guilted JK into going, she checked out players with the binoculars, liked the Hens catcher Maxim St. Pierre (the girl does like her catchers)

-driving home from her house I swear to god I think I might have seen a ghost in one of the two cemeteries next to her house...I always look at night because sometimes there will be red or blue candles at a couple of the graves that just happen to be lit (creepy because there is no pattern to it, and there is a story that one of the candles is over the grave of a dead child). while looking at a couple of them that were lit, my eyes picked up something next to them. I swear there was a women knelt in front of one of the graves, and she was a draped in an eerie white shawl....I slowed down (for some reason) and then I am positive that I saw a woman's face. I couldn't take my eyes off whatever this was but I had too soon passed it. but I COULD NOT make myself turn the car around and look again. I was strangely calm but I just couldn't order my body to do it.
now my rational mind has provided plenty of explanations for what I saw (was really just another headstone, some actual woman was in the cemetery perhaps lighting the candles even though it was 12:40 on a monday night, it was obviously something more normal and believable, like aliens) but none of them really fit. now I do believe in ghosts, just not sure I'd ever seen one or that I have even now. still very cool to think about
of course I called JK to tell her and she didn't appreciate being told of a possible ghost 50 feet from her house, bit I reassured her, she lives next to 2 cemeteries, an 1812 fort where fighting and sieges took place, a site of a massacre, and an Indian burial ground...if she hasn't seen a ghost yet, she probably won't

forgive me, but...

...I had to post this when I saw a package in the door this morning from the University of Toledo. Didn't really completely believe I was done until I saw this....



Now how to turn this (let's face it) pretty useless, though very cool piece of paper into a real job...

Goodbye to The West Wing

****warning: if you have not yet seen the last episode of The West Wing you may not want to read this blog!****

last night marked the end of an era for my family and the end of the smartest show on tv, perhaps the smartest show that has ever aired...and one of my favorites of all time. For 7 years my family and I gathered around to watch and talk about the week's episode of The West Wing, the only thing we all watched together. Even after NBC decided to kill the show by moving it to Sundays at 8. And I'll admit that the last few seasons haven't been quite as good as the first four under series creator (and genius) Aaron Sorkin, but it has still been better than almost anything else on television.
But of course in an America that worships shows that allow freaks like William Hung to make our eardrums bleed or sitcom after awful sitcom of stupid fat guys who inexplicably have cool, hot wives...a smart, witty, sophisticated show like WW never had the ratings it should. Its actually amazing that it made it 7 whole seasons. God, I hate Americans sometimes...

but the show ended last night as President Josiah Bartlet (my hero who will never actually exist in the White House, an educated liberal with morals) left office and President Matt Santos took office. It was a pretty good sendoff....it tied up most lose ends and did a good job of sending the show off in the right way. Now I would have rather had a 2 hour finale to make sure everything was tied up, but NBC wasn't good enough to its own show to do that.....they even canceled a planned retrospective with the cast b/c it didn't want to pay the actors more. Now thats loyaly NBC...no wonder your network sucks. But here's what we know:
-Josh and Donna are apparently together for real and both working as Chiefs of Staff for the Santos
-Bartlet pardoned Toby as his last act as president (where was Toby in the finale)
-Sam Seaborne (Rob Lowe) came back to work at the White House
-CJ headed off to LA to run a charitable foundation and ends up married to Danny with kids
-Will runs for office in Oregon (no word if he stays with the hot blond chick)
-Charlie goes to law school
-Barlet and Abby retire to New Hampshire and open up the Bartlet Presidential Library (they should build one for real, I would so go to it!)

best part of the finale was at the end on Air Force One when the Bartlets were going home and he opens a gift from the late Leo McGarry and it was the napkin that Leo wrote "Bartlet for America" when he was trying to talk Bartlet into running....wow, even though I knew what it was going to be..I teared up a bit anyway

I had only 2 problems with the episode and either could have easily been prevented by a fact checker!!
-at the beginning when Bartlet and Abby are getting ready for the Inauguration and Abby is complaining about the cold and wondered who would in their right minds would plan a January inauguation outside and Bartlet answered with Jefferson, Adams and Franklin and said they got a few things right...OH MY GOD!! COME ON!!!!!
first...until the 1930s I believe (maybe even later) Inauguration Day was at the end of March!!!! not January
second...the day was decided by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and only Franklin was even there!!!
thirdly...I am almost positive that the Constitution gave no specifics about Inauguration Day at all, hell Washington read his first Inaugural Address through an open window in NYC
-the other glaring problem was at the end of the episode the shot pans to Air Force One taking the Bartlets home from Washington to New Hampshire...but the plane is flying over the ocean! just by looking at a map you can see the plane should have been over land on its way there...to be over the Atlantic it would have had to go way out of its way. I asked my brother the pilot and he said it made no sense unless they were forced to fly over the ocean by busy air traffic...but this was Air Force One! it would not get out of other planes' way (Chief agreed)...I mean sure it was just a stock shot of the plane flying but there must be one shot over land.

but despite those easily fixable errors it was a great episode and a fitting goodbye to the show and my favorite fictional president ever, Josiah Bartlet. god I wish we could just have one like him in real life, now we don't even have one on tv to pretend he cares about the American people.
Goodbye West Wing...you will be missed.

My Perfect Day

that's right, it finally came....Saturday, May 6 was my long awaited graduation from the University of Toledo. Only took 5 yrs, constant nagging from everyone and only a million jokes about me being in school forever. Got to dress up in my silly robe and hood and sit for 2 hrs while professors and boring alumni spouted off about...I dunno, stuff. The only thing I got from the commencement speech from some rich, boring lady was that I should push the button if I want to cross a busy street. But she donated $15 million to UT so whatever, and I got my huge diploma frame and everything...
and of course my parents were there, they are the best and really the only reason I have two useless degrees instead of just the one :-) and Jenny was there playing in the band so that was excellent too..
I did make a joke that was pretty good, made my mom and JK laugh pretty good. my gown for Masters degrees is a weird Harry Potter kind of thing with pointed sleeves and the holes for your arms in the middle of the sleeve...they actually look like wings (the theory being the more degrees you get the dumber you have to look I guess) Anyway Jenny was making fun of me about my excellent outfit and I said (pointing my sleeve at her) and completely deadpan, "whatever, talk to the wing!" we just laughed and laughed!! hmm...perhaps you needed to be there...

then of course we needed to take 100 pictures all over UT's campus, as opposed to the few we took after my Eastern graduation outside the basketball arena (which says more about Eastern's campus I guess). then mom and dad took me to Famous Dave's for some good BBQ...


then it was off to my favorite place in Toledo, a Mud Hens game with my some of favorite people. Jenny, Chach and Kate, J and Ashlie, Brynn and Garrett, and Cheryl and Jason (Mr. Cheryl) all showed up to help me celebrate my graduation.

At the risk of being sappy, it really meant the world to me to have them show up for me. they all signed a card (not so secretly) and Chach bought me beer of course. the ladies grabbed my nuts (peanuts alas) and I (and only I) was entertained by my light-up, spinning graduation toy. I got pretty blitzed, the girls got pretty cold, JK used my binoculars I brought to spy on girls to spy on band people. Hens won 1-0, had to leave before fireworks since it was like 3 degrees or something...

then it was off to Easy Street down the street from the ballpark for more drinking and debauchery (mostly by me it would seem)...Mike showed up and was served a giant beer...everyone tried to get the waiter to mark off their beers from my Hall of Foam club...thanks to Chach for NOT kicking my ass when I apparently tried to take pictures of Kate's underwear.....hahaha..."not kicking my ass"?, of course Chach tried to help..

but good times were had by all...and thanks to everyone! and now more pictures!!! (though out of respect for Kate, and b/c I don't want her to hate me, there will be no underwear pics...plus they didn't turn out anyway)

still GW's bitch...

Adam's Thesis Song (to be song to the tune of the Lambchop song) and yes...I may be the ONLY person who remembers it

This is the thesis that never ends,
Yes it goes on and on, my friend.
I started writing it, not knowing what is was,
And I'll continue writing it forever,
Just because...
This is the thesis that never ends...


So my thesis continues on...to wreck my days and haunt my nights. I spend a month and and half writing and shaping and writing and drinking and writing and stressing and writing and not sleeping...oh, and writing. And I finally feel like I have the thing very much done and set (with just a defense and minor adjustments to make before graduation on Saturday). I was very happy with my work and quite proud of what I had accomplished...after all, I had written a well researched, thoughtful 100 page thesis in a month...
the only thing I worried about was some innane paperwork I had to get signed and turned it which I took care of easily yesterday...too easily actually, anything that is that easy at UT will only end up as a disaster
an epic poem could be written about the incompetence of the University of Toledo and the souls it destroys...I even hear it makes people unfunny :-)

but I was feeling very very good last night...even went out for drinks with Rob and Amanda and Rob's cool priest friend Alan

And then I came home and checked my email. My advisor had sent my her comments on my latest final revisions (ah grad school)...and they were pretty bad. She kinda took me to task for a number of reasons. There were the minor changes I expected...and major changes about my writing, research and the major arguments of my thesis. many of which she had never mentioned before! and a day and half before my committee defense. she suggested an extension from the grad school and finishing all these changes this week and next week...while still walking and technically "graduating" on saturday.
suffice it to say, I was not a happy, exhausted grad student. I may have thrown some books and papers around. I may also have repeatedly beaten my worthless mattress with a baseball bat until I tired myself out. (yes I know, "it's called anger management, Adam" but I will give myself credit for having enough sense of mind to hit the bed instead of...say my computer, or the dog.)

after sleep and a discussion with my ever-calm Pop, I do realize that she wants me to write something that is as good as I can possibly make it (even though no one will ever read the damned thing). and I don't want to turn in anything that is less than my best work, I owe it to myself after all this work and all these wasted years. but it'll be a VERY long week.....and it will make graduation, which I was starting to really be proud of, feel pretty hollow...