Baseball is back! I have to say last year’s playoffs was some of the most amazing baseball I have ever seen. From the Cubs to the Red Sox and even the Marlins, all the games were just phenomenal. And now that Murdoch and Fox have finally sold the Dodgers, I can like them again without a guilty conscience. Not a moment too soon too, because they are ON FIRE this year!

I just got back from a game tonight with some of my fellow geology classmates. Oakland A’s versus the Yankees. While I’m not necessarily a fan of either team, I am always down for hating on the Yankees. It was a great game and went all the way to the top of the ninth inning, when in true Yankees fashion, they tied it up and then drove in the winning run. While I wasn’t rooting for them, I can definitely appreciate some fine baseball.

Plans for the weekend:

» Wait for more info on that internship.
» Friends from high school, Emily and Brandy may be in town on Saturday night.
» Write a paper for paleontology.
» Finish up TWO late labs for geomorphology.
» Start looking for people to sublet my room for the summer.

Tomorrow is advising day as well. Looks like next semester is going to be another tough one. Currently on my plate is Mineralogy, Stratigraphy and Structural Geology. However, I might not be able to take the Structure class due to some funky prerequisites, so I may be taking Hydrology instead. In the next year I will need to squeeze in Physics 3 and Chemistry 2 somewhere also. Perhaps if I kick butt, I can take field camp in New Zealand in the winter of 2006! That would be so amazing! I think I can save up the roughly $4500 it will cost between now and then. Definitely worth it for 6 weeks!

Some various cleanup on the website too. I’ve added ratings for songs in the music section. Also, for those using Internet Explorer or Mozilla derivatives, you might notice the new background graphic up above. I thought it added a nice bit of personality to this blog. 🙂 The background picture doesn’t render in Safari for some reason though. Not sure why at the moment.

This last week started off amazingly hot weather wise. The past 3 days have been absolutely perfect though. Yesterday, after sleeping through my alarm and ditching a class (doh!), I decided to go hang out at the beach for a while. That was refreshing to do. It’s so relaxing and the beaches up here aren’t crowded compared to the ones down south. Of course that is directly related to the fact that the water is icy cold. Despite that, it was a gorgeous day. Today I did… the same thing! Yes, that is unheard of. Me going to the beach on my own volition, let alone two days in a row! I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today and go running along the beach.

Of course all this beach stuff has sparked my interest in trying to surf. It looks so fun. Rentals for surfboards and wet suits down at Pacifica are fairly cheap from what I hear and I know some people who would be willing to teach me. They even have lessons, though that is slightly more expensive. However, a few things are stopping me. My fear of creepy, crawly things and other carnivores that lurk beneath the waves and the constant fact that Mother Nature is reminding you of whom your daddy is. The last time I was swimming at the beach was at San Clemente in September and a stingray decided to use my foot as target practice. I pretty much wrote off the beach after that. The other problem is the fact that I am not a strong swimmer at all. I guess before I even consider jumping on a surfboard, I need to work on my swimming endurance skills.

Nate and Christina are coming up later this evening to visit, since they are in the area for some family affairs. That will be nice to see them. I don’t think Nate and I have hung out since before Christmas. Dan was thinking of coming up sometime in the next few months too, though I might be back down in So Cal by then for my internship. It’s definitely nice to see my friends again though. The people up here are cool, but I still miss so many from down south.

Also, the unthinkable is happening! I want a Mac. Not just any Macintosh though, I really would like a laptop since it would be convenient for carrying around all over the place when doing research and school stuff. I’m looking at some of the Powerbooks, and of all the laptops I’ve looked at, the Powerbooks look like the best ones. Though they are slightly on the pricey side. The model I’m looking at is around $2600, and that is with Apple’s student discount. So I probably won’t be getting one of those very soon. Though with my internship and getting money from that, perhaps I will be able to afford it after all!

School is winding down but there is still a lot of work. One thing I’ve definitely neglected this semester is playing guitar. I really want to write more music and even lyrics, but I just can never seem to find the free time to do it. Perhaps we can get back to that soon. Who knows, maybe with me back down south, Dan and I can get back together and lay down some more music. It seems like we’ve come quite a ways from when we first started with our first song, “Fairly Simple” to the latest that are slightly more technical: “Starting to Rock” and “Tsunami Rock” (both of which actually don’t have base lines yet… but they will!).

A few weeks ago I ended up seeing Offspring for something like my seventh time. I wasn’t that impressed unfortunately. Their set list revolved around a lot of their more cheesy songs and I think I was one of the *older* people in the audience! Considering I’ve been less than impressed with their last three albums as well, I almost think it’s time I should just walk away. 🙁 I haven’t even bought their latest album yet and it’s been out for nearly 6 months, and sadly I don’t have any plans to buy it. Ah well! Despite that, I am greatly indebted to their manager, who has hooked me up with tickets and after show passes nearly every single time I have asked. Thank you Larry. At least there’s been a lot of new music I’ve been getting into, such as Muse. Check them out!

What a huge entry! Anyway, catch you soon.