Comp # 3

I have my final comprehensive exams today. Two hours on Nazi Germany/Holocaust and two hours on Mexican borderlands. Wish me luck.

Ice Ice Baby

Hooray for scraping a 1/2 inch of ice off of your car in the morning!

Seriously though - it was nuts out there this morning. Our car was completely encased in 1/4 - 1/2 inch of pure ice. I just let the car run for about 20 minutes before I attempted scraping. Our neighbor couldn't even get her car door open because the edges where the door meets the car were completely iced over. It took some warm water and chipping to crack that thing open. It was like cracking nuts. Walnuts, to be exact.


(these pictures are from a week ago after a less severe storm)

Comp # 2

Tomorrow is my 2nd comprehensive exam. Supposedly, I am to cover ALL of US history in a four hour, two question exam. Wish me luck. And all prayers would be appreciated (apparently it worked last time - who said miracles don't happen anymore?!).

Should we outsource our Childcare?

Since Julianne and I will be new at this parenting thing, I would like to solicit your opinions on the following news report. Is this an option we should consider?

Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas

NEWS FLASH!

NEWS FLASH
Julianne's expanding belly spurs outlandish rumors!
babies babies babies!!!
ETA: 10 June 2008

Update!

I passed my first comprehensive exam! It was the 6 hour on my major field of study - the North American West. That leaves a 4 hour exam on general US history (Dec. 4th), a 2 hour exam on the Mexican-American borderlands (Dec. 19th) and a 2 hour exam on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (Dec. 19th). That means I am 3/7ths of the way done. Put it this way - I will be a very relieved boy come December 20th when I'm on a plane to Bellingham for Christmas. Phew!

Comps tomorrow!

The moment of truth is upon me! My comprehensive exams start tomorrow!!! I have a 6 hour tomorrow, a 4 hour on Dec. 4th, and a 4 hour on Dec. 18th. I am officially stressed. Ack!

Here's what you can do for me:

1. If you are the religious type, then send up a few hundred prayers tomorrow in my behalf.

2. If you are not the religious type, then just try it out tomorrow for me, and say some prayers on my behalf. If you are dissatisfied with the religious experience, you can go back to being non-religious on Wednesday.

Thanks all. Wish me luck!

Most Embarrassing video Ever?

I submit that the following indeed may be the most embarrassing music video EVER. Believe it or not, the Hasslehoff is huge in Europe.

Halloween 2007

We got a huge group of people to go to Applebees with us for Halloween. I was going to go as that really infamous Nick Nolte mugshot, but the wig didn't work out. So, I just went as a fat old man. Julianne wore the curly wig and went somewhat countrywestern. not bad for 5 minute costumes. The pictures are at our Photobucket account.

Pumpkin Flambe

We did some pumpkin carving last night and here are the results.

Julianne's was a tribute to how much we Rule.

Mine was a Pumpkin screaming because his head was on fire - literally.

Here's the aftermath



And finally - here's video of the Pumpkin meets BBQ lighter fluid extravaganza:

Dude, this totally reminds me of my college days

The Universal Language of Dude.

Holy flashback of living in an apartment with 5 other guys!


Bud Light Dude - Watch more free videos

Scooter Maintenance

A couple of days ago I went to go start my scooter, and the fuel switch was completely busted. It just flopped back and forth like it wasn't attached to anything inside. So, I contacted my personal scooter consultant, Rusty Guthrie and he gave me some instructions along with this very informative drawing (scanned and emailed).


So, after removing the seat and gas tank, I got it all reattached. THANK YOU RUSTY!

Good Thoughts on the Nation's the Paranoid Schizophrenic

In The Know: Is The Government Spying On Paranoid

Ha!

For anyone who as seen an advertisement for, or visited a American Apparel store or website . . . this will make you laugh. Seriously.

14 American Apparel Models Freed In Daring Midnight Raid

LOS ANGELES—"There were girls everywhere," FBI agent Curtis Froman said. "Draped over furniture, sprawled spread-eagled in the corner, and huddled close like animals."

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Now playing: Denison Witmer - Are You A Dreamer?
via FoxyTunes

New Music Posts

There are some new posts on my music blog about Spoon, Radiohead, The Player Piano, Minus the Bear and Bright Eyes. Check them out

Music Snobs Anonymous



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Now playing: Iron & Wine - Sleeping Diagonally
via FoxyTunes

The Triumphant Return

I returned from the WHA conference on Saturday night in one piece. I had a great time at the conference, heard some good papers, saw some old friends, made a bunch of new ones and made some really great connections with other historians in the field. Now, I am back at the grindstone working my way towards my comprehensive exams next month. Ugh and double Ugh!

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Now playing: Lyrics Born - The Four Corners
via FoxyTunes

Western History Association Conference

Me = History Geek to the Max

So, right now I am in my hotel in Oklahoma City, waiting for the WHA conference to start tomorrow. There are a lot of good sessions that I am really looking forward to attending. Tonight was the Nebraska dinner and I had a lot of fun seeing some old faces and talking. The Vietnamese food was . . . ok. I prefer Thai. As far as Oklahoma City goes, I'm impressed. I thought it was more along the lines of Lincoln/Omaha . . . but it is much larger - kind of reminds me of Kansas City.

More later.

very hot and muggy.

White Trash Party - 2007

A couple of weeks ago we had a white trash party here at our apartment, and I thought I would post a couple pictures from the event. It was great. The entire album can be found at our Photobucket account.




I thought the grease-smudged
face was a perfect finishing touch.

You can't quite see it in this picture,
but she was sporting a might huge stuffed booty as well!

Here are a few others

And finally, here are my 2 favorites:

Blog changes . . . again

For all of you that have subscribed to this blog (probably only Ryan), please redirect your attention . I am moving my MP3 music blog to the following address: http://musicsnobsanonymous.blogspot.com. This new blog, Music Snobs Anonymous, will be dedicated to my musical ramblings.

In turn, this blog, Is This Thing On?, will be dedicated to my non-musical ramblings (is this what you were wanting Kelsey?)

Enjoy all.

THE OFFICE!!!!!

Here's a new clip from The Office about what they did over the summer. I can't wait!