It’s good to have a roomie who’s been to the same places you have

I came home and my roomie, Bruno, is wearing the USACFC fencing shirt from 2005 (took place at MSU). He looks at me, I look at him, I take the picture, we laugh. It’s good to have a roomie.

You might be me if…

… you want your fucking glasses from Eyeglass World to be in already so you can start to see again.

PC on iLife Support

Today my computer killed it’s second power supply. The hard drive and DVD drive have also been behaving poorly as of late. It’s dying. My little ShuttleXPC is dying, and it’s long overdue for replacement.

So I took the event today to go out and look at what a new PC could run me. I found an HP that was a slimline that would have run me only about $300, but would be outdated before I got it home. I looked online and nothing realy tickled my fancy until I hopped over to Apple and saw their iMac. It’s pretty hot, with built in wi-fi and bluetooth, camera, speakers, mic, DVD burner, and features the Intel D processor rockin the 2.0 GHz (over my current 1GHz). My eyes are pretty set on the 20″ widescreen over the 17″, but then realisitically all of this is way out of my price range.

So I bought a power supply and at least my PC works for the moment. Note to self: make backups.

Fencing and Ferris Wheels

This weekend was the Hutchinson Open at the Chicago Athletic Association. The CAA is a really neat place off Michigan Ave in Chicago. Millennium park is right across the road and it’s in “walking distance” of Navy Pier. The Hutchinson went well. I was seeded 15th out of 42 going in, after pools I was 14th, and when I got beat in my DE I finished 14th. So basically I performed exactly where my rating says I should have.

Kris came along for the trip so we made a day out of it. The sucky part was that in my excitement that I remembered to bring a towel for the showers, I forgot a change of clothes. So we made a stop in Old Navy and I got some cargo shorts and a collared shirt. We then set off to catch the trolley over to Navy Pier to ride the Ferris Wheel because I’ve always wanted to ride it with a girlfriend, but none of them have ever been willing to go with me. This one was, so we were going. But we didn’t see the trolley stop where her map said it should have been, and by the time we realized this, we decided we could walk it. Unfortunately, Kris’s “walking shoes” were brand new high heels, and by the time we made it there her feet were in great pain. So after much fashion deliberation she took my flip flops and I wandered around Chicago bare foot. The picture above is the result of an afternoon of direct Chicago to skin contact.

Bubba Gump Shrimp house is good, but the trivia is weak.

Dude

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much food in a house of two bachelors in all my life. True both Bruno and I are dating (other people, not each other), but he’s just started the South Beach diet and I guess part of being on a diet is having a metric shit ton of food in the house. Go fig. It’s all pretty healthy stuff, unlike my small grocery run that consisted primarily of cinnamon rolls, cookie dough, and Peanut butter Crunch. My metabolism kicks all your metabolisms’ asses.

The other breaking news is an upcoming trip to Chicago. Kris is going to be in town and I thought “What better way to relax and such than to go somewhere?” Ok, so I’m really going up there to fence in a big ass tournament (54 foilists are pre-registered), and it is at the Chicago Athletic Association facility which is like country club meets sports club. So I’m hoping this will be nice and well-reffed. Cost is a little high, but should also be high quality. I’m going to take a lesson with Paul to get me in shape.

I don’t like being told to post

Kris told me to post. I really don’t like being told to post. Yes, I had a good weekend with helping her move despite the fact that we didn’t get any alone time. She’s coming to Lafayette this weekend and that’ll be nice too.

I felt bad for Kris since I was the only non-family member helping her move. When I moved friends came out of the wood work to see me off. My friends kick ass. Stuffed French toast at IHOP also kicks ass, especially twice in one day.

Bike

I rode my bike to work today. Felt good. Coming back was more uphill though, and I had been fencing for 3 hours. Had to walk the bike part of the way. Guess I’ll just have to get stronger.

Kris says I’m fearless

And while I disagree, she may be more right than most. I think part of it is that there are very few fears I am unwilling to face. That is just built into who I am. From simple things like food I dislike, I make sure to retry it a few years later to make sure I still hate it (or not, as is the case sometimes), to more complex things like heights.

I’ve pondered this off and on since the day Kris pointed it out to me and I can really only come up with one fear that has a great hold on my life and my actions: I am afraid that I will disappoint the people that I care about and who care about me.

In college, I remember having a conversation with my dad about trying to balance my school work with my obligations as the club president. It didn’t matter to me if my grades sucked, but it did matter if I let a club of 50 people be less than I could make it be. I find that people who I imagine are holding me to a higher standard are the people I have a hard time communicating with and forming relationships with.

This fear probably also governs my outlook on being a dad myself. I don’t know that I can handle the idea of my child being disappointed in me. It would ruin me. 

I don’t know who I am

I don’t know who i am to my fencers. Every time I start to be comfortable being a business man who has no real relationship with his fencers other than fencing, they surprise me. Yesterday I was given a home made loaf of bread from one of the fencer’s mothers. Why? I don’t know.

I know I’d jump in front of a crazed referee for them. I know I want them all to be better fencers than I am. I do try to find out what’s going on in their lives outside of fencing, but I really can’t say that I understand any of them fully. I best understand Emma because as far as I can tell she’s the most like me.

I don’t expect gifts. I wouldn’t even say it’s a perk of being a fencing instructor. It surprises me every time and reminds me that maybe I mean more to my fencers and their families than just some guy who teaches fencing.

I feel like a vampire… blah! Blah!

So far today has been jam packed with productivity. Amongst other things I went to the eye doctor to get some new eye glasses. Apparently I can see ok because my muscles force my eyes to focus, so they’re always tense. This meant that the doc had to dilate my eyes to get my eyes to relax so he could get a good prescription.

First off the drops sting like a bitch. Second my pupils are like “HOMG! We’re huge!”. Third the sun is like “I’m going to melt your brain!”. And not to mention I can’t focus for shit when they shove a credit card receipt in front of me that could have been for $1 million or for twenty cents, I won’t be able to know for another few hours.

In the meantime, anyone got any blood they need sucked? Blah!