Holiday Post (part 2)

As promised, I said I'd finish this up before the weekend. And I'm not even guarenteeing thats gonna happen because I'm going to get sidetracked talking about stuff from last night, and then I'll get sidetracked from talking about that stuff too, so let's just get into it.

Happy Hour. Happy hour is something that I've really adopted as far back as last summer, and have really jumped into this past fall in Pittsburgh. Last summer a few friends around here and I would hop along various resteraunts and bars and such, drinking cheap drinks and eating cheap appetizers as a means to ending the week/kicking off the weekend. We've really taken that to a whole new level in Pittsburgh as a steady crew usually consisting of me, Rob, Nick and Stu, as well as other faces mixing in week in and week out are regulars at Mad Mex on Fridays from about 5-7. Now Mad Mex claims their Margaritas have 6-7 shots in them, which we've decided is a bluff, but they're still pretty strong. Our way of dealing with this is by trying to drink as many as we can in that time period. Now this leaves us with the awkward scenario that happy hour often puts you in. It's 7-7:30ish and your kinda drunk, but it's too early for it to be Friday night, but too late for you to take a nap or try to do anything productive. We deal with this different ways (i.e. last week was light up night, timing worked very well), but the most common remedy is we then go buy a keg, take it to my house, and do power hours (or variety there of including the infamous 90 minute 90's power hour, and the 80 minute 80's power hour coming soon to a Friday near you) until its time to do whatever that Friday has lined up for us. I'm jumping off this topic for a second, but it will come full circle.

After club sectionals, our car (me, Rob, Pat, Nick, Jake) went out to eat with the Hammonds's's's at Fridays. I decided beforehand that it would be a very good idea for me to be drunk for the car ride home, so I'm thinking something in the neighborhood of three Ultimate Long Island Iced Teas and a beer or two will get the job done. So the first one comes out, and imagine my suprise when the Ultimate LIT is just that. This thing is huge. So I'm drinking it, everyones giving me shit, specifically Peggy Hammonds and the waiter, because I'm struggling with the first one and I'm supposed to have two more after it. So I get it down and I'm about to throw in the towel, but I'm getting peer pressured so I figure what the hell I'll get another one. So it comes out, and out of spite of everyone, specifically Peggy Hammonds, I throw three straws in there and just go to town. Now I realized something that day. If you put three straws in a cup and drink out of all of them, you drink three times as quickly. I also realized that despite that, I drank the thing really quickly. They put a ton of ice in it and I'm kinda pissed off at this. I'm thinking I discovered a loophole, as the ice melts over the course of the drink, you don't notice how much there was. When you down it all right away, you expose them for their high ice content. And the thing is, you still end up drinking a lot, but it's such a giant class you'd expect it to be more. I say something to the waiter about it who brings over the manager, and I throw this doozy at him "Yeah, you know I was hoping to get some Long Island Iced Tea with my Ice." Again, I think this is a great line, but similar to when I said "Hey, if we wanted to see bras we woulda gone to Sears" I get crickets. There's a direct coorelation between me thinking I come up with a great line, and no one else laughing, and frankly I think it's bullshit. But anyway, they bring me out another one, I finish it (fuck you Peggy Hammonds), I get drunk, and we proceed to drive home in the carride where for all intents and purposes "I don't feel like Dancing" was invented.

Side note-As we were adding up the check we realized they overcharged us by $13. Not like put something extra on the bill, but the actual numbers didn't add up. We prolly uncovered a giant conspiracy by Fridays of just assuming people would never actually add up the numbers on a bill so they just throw somehting on top. When we left (and really for that matter anytime I ever go to a Fridays now), a part of me is expecting to get sniped down so no one else knows about the upcharge conspiracy.

Here's the point of all of this. Yesterday I go to Fridays for Happy Hour. I asked for a long island iced tea without ice, and they bring it out in a martini glass with a side cup with more of it in it. They can't put it in that giant glass without the ice because it would show how it doesn't fill it up all the way. I thought this was pretty funny. Anyway, since 3 is the new magic number for these, I have three of em. And like the previous time, I also have a few beers. And by beers I mean shots of Jameson. At this point I'm really drunk, only compounded by the fact that we went back to a friends house to play Rock Band (drums on which are really fuckin hard, btw) and continue drinking heavily there. Obviously, the phone comes out. Now we all know about the ongoing drought, so I wasn't texting any girls, but I'm pretty sure I provided Pat, Nick and Jake some entertainment. Here are the highlights. And yes, you just read 1,000+ words so I could lead into this.

(Girl calls Pat, he tells me about it)
Me:Dude, what a cunt.
Pat:Says something I deleted
Me: Yo drums in rock band is hard.
Pat: Says something I deleted
Me: Cunt like a hunt

Me: Ugh. Drunk. Kara. Makin moves!
Nick:What about spanish rice.
Me: Wha bout her. Shes callin me when we get back. Then we makin rice. Then the christmas party. Then were gettin married. Its gonna be great.
Nick:So no angel mindfuck
Me: dude three of those long island iced teas without ice and a few shots later ill mindfuck whoever i want
Nick: I wish I was drunk

Me: Sitch! Moves! Kara! Spanish rice! Let it rain in the desert! Exclamation points!!!
Pat: That message is a keeper Haha.
Me: Peggy Hammonds is a keeper

And one that may be a little cause for concern, but might also be the funniest...

Jake:I dont feel like dancing is playing in the bar im in.
Me: If your not chicken winging i will choke you and rip out your eyeballs and feed them to boars. The wild variety of boars.

And finally, me to Pat

Me:Kiga whv!

Good times all around.

So anyway, now that I've talked about different ways to destroy your body, I'll continue the discussion on how to do the exact opposite.

I finished yesterday talking about training over winter break and about how important it is to use that as a time to build momentum. That doesn’t just have to do with working out. You obviously don’t know what the weather will be like, but go throw. High reps with a goal in mind. Whether its outside, in a gym, or wherever, it’s a great opportunity to work on one thing. Let’s say you don’t have that I/O flick you wanted. Or a soft 5-10 yard backhand (Mike G says great players make the short throw 5 out of 5 times. Others don’t). Pick one thing. Throw it 50 times a day everyday over break. If you come back with one more throw in your arsenal then you had before break, you’re miles ahead of the game.

Finally, use break as an opportunity to get your diet in check. First of all, however good or bad you eat, it could be better. Nick talks about going to see a nutrionist so you can format your diet to your needs. Go out and do it. And if you don’t, ask people who know a thing or two about this (Me, Nick) to help you out with it, or go online and read stuff on it. When you go home for break your parents are putting the food on the table. If you ask your mom to make you a piece of fish for dinner instead of a cheeseburger, odds are she’ll gladly do it. If you were gonna have some fried chicken for lunch, make a grilled chicken salad or something. Take advantage of the fact that you can eat a lot better at home than you can at school, and get used to it so you can carry it over at school in January. A few things I did last year that were very helpful.

1. Limit your drinking. I put a 5 drinking nights limit on myself last year (Nick’s birthday, Cayman Islands, Spring Break, St. Patty’s Day I, St. Patty’s Day II). I’m not saying that that’s something you have to do, but it is bad for your body so don’t go overboard.

2. Cut out the shit. I very rarely touch soda in the spring. I made the decision I wouldn’t eat McDonalds once last spring (which was actually kinda tough, cus I really like it). I tried to cut out most desserts, and when I really had a craving I’d just throw some whipped cream on a bowl of strawberries or something so I still felt like I was doing something good by eating fruit.

3. Consistency. Every morning for breakfast I had a protein shake, a granola bar, a small bottle of juice and popped a multi-vitamin (Which rotated between Disney’s Princess Vitamins and Scooby Doo vitamins). I also tried to eat 5 pounds of fish every week. You start doing stuff like this regulary and it gets easier to stick to it. Consistency is key.

4. Find things that are good for you that you like, and keep at em. For me fish was a big one because I really like it and there are so many different kinds. Make a list of stuff that is good for you, and keep it in your kitchen. When you go shopping focus on those things. And then find ways to mix it up so you don’t get tired of it. By last year I’d make salads as meals that would consist of normal salad stuff, but then throw in cheese, a hard boiled egg or two, and a can of tuna or salmon. You start playing around with ingredients and you get something that has a fresh taste, even though it’s still a salad.

5. Set goals, and diet accordingly. Last year I wanted to put on 5 pounds from February to May. I ended putting on 7, but it was a good 7 because I was working out so much and eating so well. Maybe you want to put on weight, in which case have a lot of protein in your diet. Maybe your trying to lose weight, in which case cut out some carbs. Figure out what you want to do, and then plan accordingly.

Staying along the same lines, have goals in all aspects of your training. This is something that I’ve started to do in all aspects of life, whether it’s training, work, school, girls, whatever it may be. Set a goal, and then figure out everything you’re going to have to do to attain it. When you’re setting goals for your training, be ambitious with them. A few of the ones I had last year that come to mind included getting to 5 minutes of doing those pilate planks and being able to do 4 sets of benching my own weight. Although I fell short on both, they were ambitious enough that I really pushed myself to try and get there, and was that much better for it. Take the time now to evaluate where you are and where you want to be. Maybe you want to trim down your 40-40 time. (Me). Maybe you want to add a few inches to your vert. (Jake). Maybe you want to put on a few pounds (Nick). Maybe you want to get that flick huck locked down (Pat). Make a list of things you’d like to achieve, and then go back and figure out what you need to do to accomplish them. And if you’re not sure what you need to be doing to get to such things, ask someone. We’ll help.

I found last year that working out in the morning gives you a sense of accomplishment from the start that makes your day go that much better. I mentioned the breakfast I ate every morning last year, and that was directly following working out. A lot of the stuff my dad gave us is all things you can do in your living room. Last year I woke up and did all different kinds of core/flexibility stuff for 30 minutes-hour everyday, and then went along my way. I can’t tell you how much of an effect this had on me for the season, not just in terms of getting in shape, but just putting me in a good mental state everyday to start my day. If I had to recommend one element of my training to everyone, this would be it.

Lifting. Zach and I were pretty disciplined about our lifting last year, and got great results. Different people do things differently, but this is what we did (and what I plan to do again). Take it or leave it. 4 times a week, sometimes we’d add a day, sometimes we’d lose a day, it happens.

Chest/Tri/Shoulder day-Bench, flys on an exercise ball, shoulder press on an exercise ball (new for 2k8), dips (with a weight belt, you get to start doing these with an extra 100lbs on, you feel like a baler), tri pull downs, meatpackers (ask about these, best named, most underated exercise out there), then those shoulder things where you go up and to the side like your painting a window. We also mixed in other stuff (skull crushers, this thing that I don’t know what is called but does chest and shoulders), but those were the things we tried to do with consistency.

Back/Bi/Legs-Pullups, Pulldowns, Row, Lower back machine thingy, 21’s, leg press, quads, hammys, calfs, two hip thingys.

I know you prolly don’t know what some of this means by the descriptions, but just ask in person and I’ll explain em to you. We tried to do both of these routines twice a weak, and both had amazing results from it.

Running. This is one of those things where I guess you should prolly concede to someone who knows more about it/doesn’t hate it. I HATE running. I do it, but I fuckin hate it. But I spend the early season just focused on distance and stuff. By the end of February/beginning of March last year I had my two mile down to 12:00, which is what I was shooting for, and I think my best 1 mile time was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:20, and from there I really more than anything else try to maintain those times, which for me is hard because they’re pretty much my peak. I know that Hogan/Fuchs/people who know about running and stuff will disagree with everything from hear forward, but this is about what I did. That was it. The only track workouts I did were the ones we did as a team. I didn’t do any on my own, or did them very rarely anyway. I don’t buy into them. I think if you lift your legs the right way, do all your kicks and explosive stuff my dad works on, and can run 2 miles under 12:00 your golden like the oldies. I used to do structured track workouts and never got anywhere near the results I got as I had last year when I did a combination of those three things. I also think back to fall of my sophomore year where I had a really focused leg lifting regiment, wasn’t doing any running other than distance stuff, and cut half a second of my 40-40 time, which is a huge number. I think track workouts are bullshit. (Hogan is having a seizure as he reads this). Again, I will be the first one to admit that I don’t know what I’m talking about here from a running standpoint in terms of what a book, or trainer or whoever will tell you, but here’s what I do know. Through 5 years of playing ultimate at the highest level in college, I know how to train for this sport. I’ve done a lot of different things, and that’s what’s worked best for me. That’s not to that if Nick/Rob/Weasel make certain track workouts mandatory or whatever you shouldn’t do them, you should. But the theme of this is do what works, leave what doesn’t, and that’s what I do.

It’s going to be a great year for Pitt Ultimate. Our theme last year was “Hard Work”, with the goal that we are the best conditioned team in the country. Other than Wisconsin, who was in a league of their own, we didn’t play one team last year that I ever felt was in better condition than us, and last year at nationals even when I was matched up on people like Dylan and Zach I never felt like they were in better shape then me. Better players sure, but you can close that gap with the confidence knowing you spent the previous half a year doing everything you could to make sure that when that moment comes you were as well prepared for it as you could have possibly been. If you work hard enough, 6 months to the day, right now, you will be playing at College Nationals. Put in the work, it starts now…

Special Holiday Posting

So I'll start this by addressing the topic that everyone has been on my ball's about. The infamous Christmas party and my date for said event. I guess I kind of brought this on myself when I brought up the lack of a party date in my last post. Since then, Bill Shonk, while crusing the Women Looking for Men section on Craiglist (which by the way, why isn't more being made out of this, isn't this just as bad as any of mine and Vatz's antics? Craiglist? Really?), he came across a possible suitor. Now I will tip my hat here, this girl had a baller post. Like it was really, really good. I'm not posting the link because it'll just lead more people to pressure me to take her, but I'm sure someone will do it in the comment section. Here's the deal. I have a potential person in mind already, and it's something I'd like to pursuit. So chill the fuck out. And everyone can play the "oh itll be such a great story" card all you want, but the reality is the only reason people can play that card is because I'm the only person who would even consider doing something like this. For example, one Pat Hammonds has an open invitation to the Christmas party and could bring a date (Pat works for me at the office). How bout you give him some shit about this. Haha, totally just threw him under the bus. But look, here's what I offer to all you vultures.

1. Should the other situation not work out, I will consider doing this. You should take that and run.
2. Should the other situation work out, in terms of stories go, it's a better situation for you, I promise. You're talking about one night that makes for a mediocre story (it really is if you think about it. So I bring some girl to a Christmas party who had a good post on Craigslist, and then that's that. Sounds good on paper, but big fuckin deal. It sounds a lot cooler than it is. Plus I'll prolly black out, so there isn't even anyone to tell the mediocre story). Think about how much entertainment every one of my relationships, flings, one nights stands, strikeouts, or anything in between bring. If this goes down that route, it's better from a quality standpoint, it's better from a quantity standpoint. That's all on this for now.

For those of you who don't know, I will be flying to Oregon December 5th. I'll spend that Thursday getting the tour of the land from the one and only Bill Shonk, and then that Friday-Sunday we will be driving cross country, with our only prolonged stop being in the wondeful city of Chicago, IL (Rob, Pat, Jake, Hogan, be jealous). You want some REAL stories, talk to me when we get back.

For those of you who don't follow my facebook profile, you'll notice I've added Scrabble as one of my interests. I used to have Pac-Man and Tetris as games on my phone, when it broke they were lost. So I needed a new game, and figured why not get scrabble, maybe it helps me build up a useful life skill. Well I've been playing A LOT of scrabble, and something very weird has happened. I'm actually getting pretty good. While driving back I played Pat/Chowder/DTR 3 on 1 while driving (don't recommend this, very unsafe), and actually squeaked out a victory. I'm sure there will be a rematch on the way back and I'm not as confident this time around, but looking forward to it none the less.

Just got my tuition bill for the spring. $2621. That badboy comes out of my checking account, and as of January 1 I am officially cut off financially. Ramen noodles: coming to a Dawson Street apartment near you.

Keeping this short, but I'll write something useful about frisbee stuff now, since I haven't done that, and I'll stay on the topic of diet, and go into a little training. When the season ended last year, I was by far in the best shape of my life. So in no particular order, things I did last year that got me to that point. And like my Dad says that martial arts guy who was taught by Bruce Lee says, take what you like, leave what you don't.

-I didn't do a lot last fall. Mid november I started running/lifting/doing core stuff again, but nothing crazy. For those of you keeping track at home, that's now. In fact right after I finish this post I'm going to go for a ~4 mile run, and then do some core stuff.

-The begginging of December is always tough because of finals and stuff, so I instituted the "shower rule". For those first few weeks in December, every time I took a shower (which I do 2-3 times a day, I'm kinda weird like that), I had to do pushups/sittups first. Started with 50/50, progressily increased. This is so simple to do, and really helps.

-Winter break, this was where everything really started for me. For those 2-3 weeks, I trained with my Dad everyday for a few hours. Now think about all the stuff we did when he was out here for the weekend. Now imagine having to do that, but all of his attention is on you. There's nowhere to hide. If you're sitting there thinking, oh well that must be a great work, you're right. But it's also hell. I felt like jello at the end of every workout, but man was it worth it when we came back to school in January. And this is where everyone should be kicking it into gear. A lot of other teams use winter break as just that, a break. Make those the 2-3 most focussed works of your year (caldenar year, 2007 that is, suckers). If you can pair up with someone to help you do stuff great, if not set goals so you have something to measure yourself against. For example, the planks pilate things we do (pushup position thing, but all the wait on your forearms and toes), time yourself the first time you do it. Everyday add 5-10 seconds, and refuse to hit the ground before you get to your goal time. The momentum you can give yourself heading into January from winter break could be your best friend or your worst enemy. If you really push yourself over these 2-3 weeks you come back into team workouts with a sense of confidence that is invaluable. If you sat on the coach watching a Chistmas Story for 2 weeks, you're playing catchup for all of January and February. Don't be that guy.

Ok, so when I said I was gonna run 4 miles after this post, I wasn't lying. But I told my friend I'd go running with him at 1:00, and it's 12:58. I will finish this post at some point over Thanksgiving Break.

Hits and misses...

Friday night was one of those nights I've been looking forward to for a while and it did not dissapoint. The highlight of it was a really fucked up dream I had, which I can't really type here, but if I haven't told you about it you should prolly ask me. Highlights of said dream including Tracy Gibbs (which in itself is funny, because I didn't even know who she was until a week ago and Talle had shown a picture of her, and it turns out she's hot and plays frisbee, which is a very rare combination these days), my first "kid", Bed Bath and Beyond, Rob getting into a fight, and a 50 foot staircase. Right...

In a similar fashion, I spent most of Friday hanging out with Rob. The last Friday before that I spent most of the night with Stu. I had a blast both times. I think this has a lot to do with hanging out with people my own age. On that note...

Bill Shonk and Dave Vatz are both going to be back in the spring. I can't even put into words how excited I am about this. Anyone who reads this blog knows who Vatz is, some of you don't know Bill. Bill was one of the orginal retards of my recruiting class, who was really my best friend at school. After his junior year he decided to mix things up for himself a little bit and since then has been living out in Oregon with his brother. I'm getting my best friend back, I'm getting someone who is in a similar life situation to me back, and Pitt Ultimate adds another great player to it's roster. Again, I can't really put into words how exciting this is for me....

Plunkett was telling me how Chowder started reading my blog. This makes me happy. So I'm going to try to make a Chowder reference in every post from here out. One because I love Chowder, two because I'm sure it'll be a very popular move amongst the readers, and really that's what this blog is all about. So today at my Dad's training session (which went really well, not too much to talk about on it, although if you have any questions feel free to ask), we were doing a bob and weave drill. The first time Chowder did it, he looked exactly like Popeye. Imagine Chowder swinging his arm like Popeye, and having his bottom lip puffed out a little bit like popeye while doing this. If you can picture this in your head and don't find it funny, you have no sense of humor. The second Chowder reference is the whole Chowder as an Ewok thing. This was particulary relevant because our house Sunday night dinner/move was Return of the Jedi. I don't really have anything to say on this, other than Chowder's an Ewok. That's sweet.

I still haven't finished my 80's power hour. I've had a lot of people send me stuff, but I still don't have everything I want. If you have any suggestions or have any songs you think should be on there please email them to Dogface006@aol.com. And I have most of the obvious ones, so you don't need to send me something like Flock of Seagulls Run So Far Away or anything like that, but if you have anything you think would be good, lemme know.

At Collegiants in our hotel room, we had a very interesting discussion where all the members in the room (Me, Rob, Pat, Chris, Chowder, Eddie, Plunkett) came to a unanimous decision. We all are down with being the little spoon. It was a very involved discussion and it orginally started saying how sometimes it's nice to have the girl just kinda like roll into you. Then we talked about not having to deal with the age old question of "the other arm" positioning. A lot of thought went into this discussion to the point where I know since then Plunkett and Rob have both requested to be the little spoon. I wish I could say I've done the same, but there's still that little issue of me being in a drought, but I digress. Anyway. Little spoon. Big things. We're onto something here...

This coming weekend is alumni weekend. This should be a lot of fun, as I haven't really gotten to hang out with most of these guys in a while. I also get to see Bruce Springsteen on Wednesday. Bittersweet. Bitter because I bought a tickets a few months ago, and despite being a decently looking well like 22 year old dude, I never found a girl to take. Sweet, because, well, it's Bruce. Come on now. How can you not be excited for that...

I was just ranked the number #2 best looking guy on Pitt A, behind Rob. Which on that technicality makes me the most eligble bachelor on Pitt A. Igonore the fact that this ranking was done by a bunch of dudes (but they made sure to clarify in a Non-Home kinda way), and that despite rankings, it doesn't mean shit in reality.

Speaking of failed finding a dates situations, I have my office Christmas party in a little over a month. Now this is a situation where failure is completley unacceptable. I have a legacy of being the life of the office Christmas party, and there are certain responsibilties that come with that. One of which is not dying, which is something where the date part helps. But basically it needs to be someone who can be in Pittsburgh over break, will have a good time in a little bit more adult type setting, likes to mingle with strangers, enjoys the wonders of a free open bar, will look decent in a picture, and most, or least importantly depending on how you look at it, will make sure that I don't end up swimming in the Alleghany river at the end of the night. If anyone has any ideas, I'm obviously all ears. Although I was thinking it'd be kind of cool to run a contest over facebook or something. Ignore for the fact that it seems backwards to have a contest to go on a date with me when I don't even have girls to be talking to on a day to day basis, but I think it's something that could actually work. Put it this way, when you have it show up on your news feed "10 of your friends joined this group" or "10 of your friends are attending this event", odds are, your gonna click on it. So if I can set up this "contest" and get a lot of people to join the group right off the bat, it opens it up to a lottt of people to look at. And maybe one of the people is the first of two, possibly three, Mrs. Suskins. Maybe she's just a date to a Christmas party. And maybe this crashes and burns like everything else I do when it comes to this stuff. But it could be kind of funny to try.

Collegiants and more…

Ok, so first of all, there was a time where this would be considered early for me. But now that I’m old and work full time and take classes full time, it’s not even midnight and we’re officially in “past my bedtime territory.” And while I was just talking to Jake, Eddie and Erin who were watching Star Wars, I realized I’m kind of grumpy right now. I feel like I have a responisibilty to preface my posts with things like this. I also feel like I’m supposed to update you on music I’m listenting to. Fire and Rain by James Taylor baby. Feel the burn. And the water. Ok, what everyone really came for…

So the van ride down was rather uneventful except for a notable “Show Titties” incident. We were next to this car of three girls for a while, and went through our normal routine. It goes on for a while, eventually they pull out the biggest tease in this game, the bra show. We’re naturally riled up about it, but we’re running out of gas so we have to get off to go to Sheetz. About an hour later, we look over, and who do we see? Same car. So by this point its getting dark, so we move to the phone number stage of the game. We get them on the phone, and then this tragedy happens. I’m talking to one of the girls and I hit her with “Listen, if we wanted to see bra’s, we woulda gone to fuckin Sears.” I think this is a genious line, and naturally I drop it in a loud fassion so everyone in the van can laugh and give me my kudos. What happens? Nothing. Crickets. This is fuckin bullshit. I miss Talle in situations like this, because he always has my back on my stupid shit. Other highlights of this were I thought she said her last name was Berzerko (it’s actually Dzurko), so I just kind of hysterically laughed at her, and then she yelled at me for laughing at her name. We left it with plans for the three of them to come to Mad Mex for happy hour tomorrow, but since they are girls and I am involved in the situation, sadly this is prolly the end of the story. In related news, the other two situations I mentioned are dead. Plunkett actually came to the conclusion that when I got my face cut open, they took a little part out of me that was “my game”(insert joke her, but just role with it), kinda like how the last time I was in a drought this long I got cursed to set things off. Anyway, back to the tournament…

Our first game Saturday was against Richmond, who most people on our team have never played. We looked good. Really good. Everyone is focused and excited, the D line is getting breaks, the O is tearing through their zone like scissors on paper (and they actually played a pretty good zone to their credit, we were just on). We cruise out and win 13-5 or something like that, and it was a great way to start the weekend.

Next up is Duke, and we pick up right where we left off. The D line is just playing very excited and is amped up. It’s a really young line, and I think this is kinda going to be foreshadowing their year a little bit. When they go on runs its really easy for them to get excited and just keeping ramping up. When they sit and don’t play for a while, it’s hard for younger players to maintain that same excitement. Well it’s really hard for anyone, but even more so for younger players, I think. But anyway, we cruise out here, I think they put up two.

We had a pretty long break before the Maryland game, which as I mentioned in my last blog post was a game I was looking forward to. I also told Reuben I’d throw him a shout out in the blog, so yeah, I guess this is that. Maryland isn’t a bad team by any means, but man did we make it look that way. On offense, I felt completley uncoverable, and the cool thing about that is I’m sure all 6 other people on the field were in the same boat. We were just tearing it up for the few points we were on, and the defense still hasn’t let off the gas at all, as they’re just getting breaks like a bull in an antique shop. (Did that work? I think it worked, but curious what others think). I think we held them to 3. Side note, even though we dominated this game, Sam B. is very good at frisbee. I wish he came to Pitt.

NC State did one of those lose a pool game they prolly shouldn’t lose, so now we have them in the first crossover. There good for one of those every now and then, and this is the second time we’ve played them in this situation. (We played em in quarters at Easterns last year cus they lost a pool game). It is well known that the last three times we have played NC State, they resulted in Pitt universe point wins. Unfortunatly, getting to universe point alone would have been a step up for us in this game. The O gave up a couple of first half breaks, and the D, being challenged for the first time all weekend had a little bit of the wind taken out of their sails. I remember after giving up a break in the first half going back to the line just kind of expecting to get the next point instead. I feel like a lot of people had a little bit of a relaxed mindset that first half, and by the time a sense of urgency kicked in it was a little too late. We traded towards the end, might have even got one of those breaks back, but they closed us out 13-9.

That sucked but we knew we had another game ahead of us, against a good UNC-W team. We played them twice this weekend, and I can say this is by far the best UNC-W team in the past 5 years of college ultimate. This game was under the lights, and I just remember it being solid. Nothing too flashy, nothing to bad, we just played a solid game. The one play that I do remember is watching this kid try to take Chowder deep, thinking “no one messes with Chowder” (including Geoff Zettel, who was pickin on Chowder in the van and prolly wasn’t expecting me to fly in to his aid going over three rows of seats in the process) and swooping in and kinda laying out but avoiding the contact to get a piece. This would happen again later in the tournament. I got your back Chow, don’t you forget it. Wish we won the State game, but can’t complain, good first day.

Our vans packed up and went to Parkers. And by went to Parkers, I mean me and Robs van went to Parkers, and Nicks van went to some crappy version of Parkers. I spent all week hyping it up, and boy was it just as good as I rememebered. Half our team had an amazing dinner, the other half didn’t. Those be the breaks sometimes.

Sunday morning, first game Edinboro. We managed to miss them all of last year, and wanted to make a statement here. Now I haven’t really talked about too many individual plays or players yet, but since it’s my blog I’m talking about a really cool point I had. We turned the disc, and they threw a huck to Colin in the endzone, and I came from the far side an lunged out and just got a little piece on it as he was lunging for it too. Doesn’t sound like anything special, but I felt real good about it. We start working it downfield, and then Colin makes up for it by point blocking a huck Rob tried to throw. Almost. As its fluttering out of bounds I managed to toe the line and snag it with one hand. Then right away I throw a huck to Skyler for the goal. 3 really cool things in one play. But I didn’t even write about that to sound cool (well maybe a little). The next O point, I’m on a side in our spread and I here someone from the Edinboro sideline yelling to my defender, that’s their guy, that’s their guy. And that’s why I realized we’re so dangerous. I’m cutting on an O line with 3 cutters who are all better cutters than I am. If I’m “their guy” it means that Rob, Chris and Evan are gonna be covered by weaker defenders. And that doesn’t even though on the fact that Chowder is as solid with the disc as anyone, Plunkett very well might be the most consistent player on our O line right now, and Vatz is going to give people headaches when he gets back trying to cover him as a handler. I’m very excited about the potential of our offense. Boro keeps it close early, but we progressively start to pull away. Final was 13-8 or something. As that’s going on, UNC-W knocks off State. We win the pool. Sweet.

We drew William and Mary in quarters. Nothing important here and it’s getting late. We won pretty easily. UNC-W then gone another crack at us in semis, and it was a close game, but we won. Again, getting late, so keeping that short. Plus I’m sure everyone just wants to here about the UNC game.

First of all, if you want a better recap of this game you should read Mike G’s on RSD. It’s pretty good. The first half of this game is exactly why we can beat anyone in the country. Our defense is playing out of it’s mind. Eddie, Pat, Hogan, the Zettels, the rooks, everyone is just playing incredible individual and team defense right now. And Jake is just running shit on the turn like it’s his job. I didn’t notice much about him on D, but offensively this weekend was the best tournament Jake’s ever played in his life, or at least in my opinion. Not only is the D rolling, their doing it without Nick who is out for the game after hurting his shoulder. On O, we’re a well oiled machine. We don’t give up a break in the first half, but not only are we scoring, we’re doing it easily, and that’s without Evan, who is out this game with a groin injury. Me Rob and Chris are all just seeing the space, always a step ahead of our guys, anticipating where to go for one another, it’s just awesome to be a part of, and our handlers are putting the disc right in our hands in stride on every cut. We took half 9-4 on one of the top teams in the country. Tricky part about ultimate though, you gotta play both halfs.

I’m not sure what the score was when things start to turn around, but I can tell you what turned it around. UNC threw a zone at us, that we just weren’t ready for. It wasn’t even a pressure zone as much as a great contain zone, that was doing just that. We just never really had an answer for it, and it took the momentum out of it for us. On offense and defense, we won the first half with energy. By going zone, they slowed everything down and crawled back into it. Great call by their coach or captains or whoever runs their shit. You also hear all this stuff about Matt Thomas playing out of his mind, and it’s pretty much true. Like or hate the kid, he’s a baller and is prolly the biggest reason they won that game.

As they kept closing the gap two things happened. On offense, Chris, Rob and I were just didn’t have it like we did in the first half. We had their team trading off defenders on us, we were playing a lot of points because we kept getting broken, and it was the 9th game of the weekend, going to 17. It reminded me of the scene in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where Raph gets jumped by the foot and they throw him in through the roof. He’s unconscious in the bathtub while the other three are trying to fight off the foot, which is going ok for a while, but starting to catch up with them. Then the ceiling falls in, the apartment catches fire, and things are looking really bad until Casey Jones comes in, and they find the exit and get the fuck outta there. The really funny thing about this reference, is I’m pretty sure I’ve referred to this exact scene in this blog before at some point. Anyway, if you don’t get where I was going with this, Evan was Raph. We really coulda used him, but instead we just kinda wore down a little bit.

The second part is what I was talking about earlier with a young D line. Instead of getting to play with that momentum and excitement, they were a little bottled up because they weren’t getting on the field as much. With a more veteran line out there, I think they can stay focused better for the chances they get. With a younger team it’s harder to do that. Also, just from having been on the other end of things, it’s very hard to maintain that level of excitement while watching the offense not being able to get it done, even when that might be the most important time to be able to find it. In the same way that we really missed Evan, they had to have really been missing Nick in the second half of this game.

At 16-17, we turned. They put up this blade to the break side in the end zone which I barely get a hand on, but as its falling a Carolina player catches it. Fitting. But there are sometimes when you just have to tip your hat to the other team for playing a great game. It’s taken me 5 days to get to that point, but give them credit, they played an amazing game. I can’t wait to get another crack at em.

I took this game very hard. For one, the feeling of having a disc touch your hand and not being able to get all of it on the last point is something that vividly sticks in your head. The main reason I was really upset with myself personally, was because in these types of situatons, it’s not always about whose playing good or playing bad. The reality is that at some point, someone on your team steps up, or they don’t, and that’s often the difference between the L and the W. In that situation, I want to be able to do that, and I should have, and I didn’t. That was disappointing to me. I know Chowder also took this game very hard, as he had a few un-Chowder like turnovers down the end of the game, but I think part of that is him just maturing into a player who is going to have to make a lot of plays instead of just being a mistake-free handler like last year.

At the time this loss really stung. Too be honest, almost a week later I still haven’t been able to completley come to grips with it. But here’s the reality for me personally, and I hope it’s contagious. This is one of those games you take to the track. This is one of those games you take to the gym. This is one of those games that reminds you why you work so fucking hard for this game, if only because you remember that feeling and you never want to experience it again. At some point this season, someone is going to lose a game to Pitt Ultimate, and it’s going to be because of this game. Whether it be us being in better shape at the end of it because this motivated to push that much harder, or because we learnt from the mistakes we made in not being able to close it out, it’s going to happen. And looking at it simplistically, trading off a win in the spring for a loss in the fall is a good deal.

In a very well timed situation, my dad (who does personal training for those not in the know), come out this weekend for team training sessions. We did this last year and it had a huge effect on our team. It should be a good starting point to catapult people into their training during the offseason, and make sure that what they’re doing is good. You can train hard, but it’s just as important to train smart.

It’s really late, so I need to wrap this up. For those of you who read this more for entertainment purposes then frisbee purposes, prolly wasn’t the best post for ya. For everyone in the frisbee world, hopefully this is what you were looking forward to. I’ll try to get another blog post in sometime soon just to ramble about life and the world in general. It’s been a tough week for me, as getting back late from a tournament sets me back on sleep and because of the full time work/school thing if I miss sleep I can’t ever really catch up. Kinda sucks. But I’ll end it on an entertaining note, this one actually compliments of Pat Hammonds.

Why did the guy go fishing in Alaksa? For the halibut…

Yeah, you liked it…

So I brought lunch to work today, which means I have time to write and planned to blog on a bunch of misc. things, including the season finale of Californication, the half hour Vatz and I just had on how to construct a facebook message, and thoughts on training for the ultimate season, for the fall, for the spring, individually, and as a team. And somehow my lunch break has 5 minutes left and I'm just starting. Whoops. So here's the deal, I'm gonna go ADD on this blog post for a few minutes, I'm prolly not gonna get to the training stuff, but it'll come sooner than later, and I'll definatly do a Collegiants recap after we get back. As far as long term blog posting, I'm thinking one of the best things to do so I stay on it is turn it into a little Q & A. I think Talle and Vatz both have had this idea before, but never really stuck to it. So from here on out, figure a large majority of my blog posts will be things that you, the valuable reader, leave in the comment section or send in an email. With that being said, here we go...


-SPOILER ALERT. If you watch Californication, or plan to (and trust me, if you haven't you really need to plan to), skip this paragraph, as I'm going to talk about the season finale.
I can't even point into words the effect this show has had on me. My whole weeks revolved around waiting till 10:30 on Monday. If the show ended on a good note, I'd be in a great mood for the next few days. If it ended on a bad, or sad note, I could be on suicide watch for the next few days (like the episode where the daughter basically tells Hank she doesn't believe in Happy Endings because of him. I listened to the song that ended that episode (Deathcab for Cutie-Passenger Seat) non stop for three days while contemplating getting a prescription for Prozac I was so sad). As Karin said yes to Bill at the altar, and all the scenes that followed, it was incredibly bittersweet. On one hand, I was happy that Hank had been able to turn a corner, realize his mistakes, and it seemed be able to come to grips with it as well as you can do with such things. On the other hand, I've become to attached to his character, anything less then him benig happy was going to have an everlasting emotional effect on my well being. I'd deny that my eyes were wattering up over the past 5 minutes of the show, but Pat and Eddie could just call me out on it since they were watching with me. No tears, but watering up. So when she jumped into the car, I was estatic, and the sad water in the eyes turned to happy water. I'm not sure if they'll be able to maintain the quality of the show next season with them together, but honestly I don't care, if only because I don't have to go jump off the Cathedral now because things didn't end catastropically. I'd be more than happy to discuss this further in depth with anyone who would like to do so.


SPOILER OVER, come back and play. I will say, if you skipped over that it means you either didn't see the episode, or haven't watch the show yet. If it's the latter, trust me, you need to. It's changed my life, and it can do the same for you too. Kind of like, heroin. Except the opposite. But still kinda the same.


We get to go to good ol North Carolina this weekend for Collegiants. Always good to play in a Mike G tournament, as he always has his shit together. I don't expect this to be any different. Plus we get to go to Parkers for dinner, and since there's only four people left on this team who have even been there (me, Evan, Tony, and Rob, who got the Seafood last time, in one of the biggest misorders in food history, as evidenced by the fact that 3 years later I still remember it), it should be a nice treat. It should be an interesting weekend, as this is the first time this team as a whole plays together (sans Vatz, Brad, and hopefully Bill Shonk, but he's another story for another day). Personally I am looking forward to playing as much as I can with Evan/Rob/Chris, as you can tell there are times where when we play together that we can be unstoppable. Mike G tournamnets are always a tough test because you play so many games, so there will prolly be a few gut check situations over the course of the weekend.

So far we're set to play Maryland, Duke and Richmond, who apparently wanted to play us which I think is kinda neat. Maryland always baffles as me, as I never understood why they aren't better than they are. Big school, plenty of field space, better weather than most of the ME, and they have some ballers down there. Even back in the day those teams with Cuneo, the Franchise twins, etc always seemed like they should have finished higher than they should have. Maybe it's coaching, or leadership, or they just don't want it, but I always kind of hope Maryland makes the jump, as it'd be nice to have another elite ME team. With that said, I know they have plenty of players (Sam B., Ultimate, etc) who are really good, so we gotta make sure we're ready to play.

Side note-Ultimate (don't know his real name), is a good player. But thats got to be the worst nickname I've ever heard in my life. I mean, come on. Ultimate? Can't come up with anything better than that? If only they had The Bird or Talle down there.

There was a time where I'd look a little bit past Duke and Richmond (we'll call that time, Pre OSU on Saturday) to JMU or whoever the crossover would be, but you can be sure that won't happen here. Don't know much about those teams, although apparently Richmond likes to play zone? Either way, we'll be focussed and ready from point 1 for both of those teams, so if they beat us it won't be a Dayton or Miami game where they jumped on us when we weren't ready, it'll be because they were a better team. Hopefully that is not the case.

Assuming we get that far, definatly looking forward to playing NC State and UNC. I have a respect for a lot of those guys which hopefully is recipricated, and I always look forward to em. Plus universe point games are fun, and thats what always seems to happen when we play NC State. And we owe UNC one from Nationals last year. This is our last tournament of the fall and will help set the tone going into the offseason. I have high expectations for it putting us in a good place as we shift focus in more training and stuff, even if getting back at 4am on Sunday is going to singlehandely ruin my life next week now that I'm a full time working memeber of society.

Speaking of work, I need to be getting back to that about 20 minutes ago, but I talked about girl stories so I gotta deliver on that. One situation is a classic Josh/Vatz overanalyzing the shit out of it. We just discussed for a half hour or so what the approrpiate response is to a facebook message, and as usual we came to the conclusion that our response is 100% the way to go. The tragedy is that because we both feel 100% confident, it's prolly the exact oppositie of what I should be doing, yet I digress. However I feel like this situation will have more to it in time, so I'm not gonna go into details yet.

Situation two is a little funnier and something everyone can relate to. Everyone has been in a class where they kinda go through a thing where they throw looks at a girl, she throws em back, you both notice what the other one is doing, but you'll never actually say a word to each other. You can tell me this has never happened to you before if you want, but I won't believe you. So yeah, I have one of those in one of my classes. Thing is, she looks different a lot. Not a two face by the Seinfeld definition, because she looks good both ways, but just really looks different sometimes, not even really sure why. Well in one of my other classes, I have a girl who I'm in the same exact situation, and the funny thing is she looks remarkebly similar to the other girl. But I've never been sure if it's the same person or not, because they always look different. Kinda confusing. So anyway, in one of my classes, she comes up to me, and says hey your in my other class, do you know what the HW is. And I get kinda flustered, because this is the first time I've actually realized, wait a minute it's the same person. So I take out my notebook, look it up, and tell her what the HW is, and that's that. Didn't get a name or anything, it just kinda went as quickly as it came, and I was a little flustered off the bat because I now had to merge these two different people in my head as one. So I'm kinda pissed because I didn't handle the situation better. But then old reliable Josh kicks in accidently. It's not a surprise to anyone here that I'm not exactly the best student in the world. So when I realized I wrote down, and gave her the wrong HW assignemnt, not only was this expected, but it was a blessing in disguise. Now she HAS to talk to me again, if only just to call me out on giving her the wrong thing. So I go home, talk about the sitaution with Pat, and we do some incredibly craft facebook stalking (and by we I mean me, and he watched, but I'll say we because it makes me feel better about the situation) and find out who she is. Except I can't message her or tell her I told her the wrong thing or anything like that, because she never told me her name. Then she'll figure out how I got her name, and be either really creeped out, or really impressed. I mean I'd be impressed, as I had nothnig to work with. But I'm guessing I'm the minority. So anyway the next day, we're walking into the building at the same exact time, couldn't have planned it better. And we're talking about it, and I'm just like yeah, sorry I realized I gave you the wrong thnig, and she's like it's cool someone in my group email me about it later. And I was telling her how I would have told her about the assignment, but I never caught her name. She laughs, and literally right as she's about to tell me (not that I didn't already know, but again she doesn't know this, nor can I let her know this), some guy walking in asks her if she studied for a different test. I'm now in a situation where I have to wait for someone I don't know in a weird situation, or keep walking. I decided to keep walking. I finished my hour and a half test in about 45 minutes (and will be lucky if i broke a 40% on it, i wasn't done quickly because I did good) before anyone else, so I didn't see her again and that was that. I hope there's more to this story, but there prolly wont be. Haha, that was also really long, and you just wasted your time reading it. Suckers.

What it really comes down to from a girl standpoint right now is on November 14th I'm seeing Bruce Springsteen, and I bought a ticket for my serious girlfriend. Problem is, I don't have a serious girlfriend. So all effort in girl department goes to filling that ticket, because if I have to take my backup girlfriend (Pat Hammonds), it might be a little depressing. But at least not as depressing as the Californication finale wasn't (or was, depending on how you look at it). Until next time...

Weren't expecting this now, were ya? I was thinking about it and I realized that since Talle isn't with us anymore and that was the best way for people to really get an idea how the season was going, someone else needs to do it. I will do my best to give it a shot. I can't make any promises on consistency of posting, as between working full time and being a full time student in addition to trying to play frisbee doesn't exactly leave a whole lot of time. However I can promise a few things when I post:

-It will prolly remain just as focussed as the last time when I blogged. Which was not very focussed at all.
-If you're a grammar/englishy person, this isn't the place fro you.
-It will be entertaining. Don't necesarily confuse that with good. In fact sometimes it will be really bad. But hopefully really bad in a Snakes on a Plane kind of way where it's so bad that it goes full circle into being good.
-The purpose of this blog is really for the alumni to know what's going on with Pitt Ultimate. If you sort through all the bullshit in here, I will try to make sure I accomplish that.

With that being said, here we go...

We went to OSU fall brawl with two split teams. One was more O line based (me, Rob, The Bird, Brenenborg, Chowder, etc). The other one was more D line based (Nick, Pat, Jake, Eddie, etc). It was a good way to get people used to playing with each other since we were really only missing two people (Vatz and Brad), and also gave Nick/Rob/Weasel a great opportunity to evaluate players before the next cut. I can't really give too much on what happened with the other team except for their last game which I got to watch, so this is really a recap of my team.

First we played Miami or Dayton. I don't really remember which was which. We did not do a very good job of preparing for this game, as I think everyone just assumed we would be playing a crappy Ohio team and figured we'd just roll. Usually this type of thing falls on a captain/coach, but I don't think it'd be fair to blame Rob here. People who were supposed to be setting an example (myself included), didn't really do that and we just had a weak mindset going in as a team. It was kinda windy, the game was ugly, and we pulled out a win.

Next we played the other one out of Miami or Dayton. (I think it was Dayton). The best way I could describe this, is that we lost to Miami or Dayton. Bad news bears. I had a really shitty game, I know Chris had a really shitty game. Kind of hard to win when two of your top players are the top two residents of turnover city. Weasel flipped out on us a few times, me specifically, which was definatly a good thing, and we didn't stop fighting towards the end of the game even though I don't think it was that close. Things learnt from this game. It takes us too long to make adjustments. We kept making the same mistakes, we kept letting them do the same things over and over. It sucked.

We finished up the day by playing CMU. We don't lose to CMU anymore. This game was no different.

The other Pitt team rolled through what everyone said was lesser oppenents. It was a really bad day for out team, myself in particular. I'd like to chalk up my bad play to rust and having not played in a while, but I mean the reality is some days you have it, some days you don't. I didn't have it. I was really pissed off about this on Saturday, right now I'm kinda ok with it because it was a Saturday in October that in the grand scheme of things doesn't matter as long as we learnt from it. I think we did.

Me and Rob stayed after for a little bit and talked about the day, the team, and captaining. This talk somehow turned into a talk about interviewing for jobs. We just kinda roll like that sometimes. I think Rob is in a tough situation because unlike Nick who'se been coaching for a little while, he's had to learn on the job a little bit. I remember when I started I had a lot of problems, but I had Sean there to catch me when I fell. But I think he's been learning a lot, I think he's already been doing a great job, and I think he's just gonna grow in the role even more so as the season goes on.

A bunch of us went to the Mongolian BBQ for dinner, where sadly our old friend Malia no longer works (for anyone who doesn't know Malia, she was a waitress at the place we always went to, me and her kinda developed a love/hate relationship over the years, which kinda hit a wall when she wouldn't make out with me in an RV after we had a discussion about how we should make out in the RV so we could start a "I made out with someone in an RV" facebook group.) I haven't quite recovered from that one yet. Instead me, Rob, Bailey and Eddie kept ourselves amused by throwing a bunch of shit in Eddies drink and rating all the girls who were at the resteraunt. I forgot how cool of a kid Bailey is because I haven't hung out with him that much over the past two years because he didn't play and was on Pitt B before then. He looked good at the practice I was at. I hope he makes A.

Sunday started a lot better. We were a lot more focussed warming up. We played Michigan State's mostly A team. They're not the Nationals 9th place powerhouse they used to be, but they're still a good team with a few BAT guys leading the charge. What was really encouraging was that our O didn't give up a break until late in the game. Me, Chris, Rob and Evan all seemed to be getting into a rhythm downfield, and were getting open at will. And when we did turn it, we had a sense of urgency that helped us get it back. Chower, Plunkett and Julian did a great job in the backfield this game. Plunkett impressed me all weekend, as I had some concerns about his skills and attitude going into the weekend, but he put them to rest. I'm really excited about what he can do this year, and his career with Pitt in general. We talked a lot after we got eliminated and his head seems to be in the right place for the most part. Very cool stuff.

I had a really cool catch on a hammer that chowder through. It's one of those ones where I hope it looked as cool we it felt, cus I was fully extended and it was tailing away and then I through an upwind goal right after. Chris also had a great grab at the end of the game on a huck I through, and Rob and Evan just played rock solid mistake free offense all game. If this game was a preview of what is to come in the spring (and this is even without Vatz, who is obviosuly a HUGE weapon), we could be a very very good O team.

We got knocked out by Penn State after. Not too much to say about this. They played their game, which is put up a lot of swill and come down with it. We kept trying to force stuff and had a lot of bad mistakes. They won, we didn't. I can deal with this because I know what's going to happen then next time we play them, and it makes me chuckle. We then watched Penn State knock out the other Pitt team. This was a little more frustrating because the two things we didn't do (work the disc up the middle instead of trying to play the deep game. And keep your head up downfield on D because they put up stuff to people even if they look covered), they didn't do either, and it took a while for them to make adjustments even with us telling them about it. Side note in this game, Tony on Penn State was arguging with one of our guys and soem guys on our sideline were chirping at him a little bit. He yelled to them "why aren't you guys out here playing." I yelled back "Don't worry about it, we'll send them a postcard from regionals." They stopped talking after that.

I know both teams wanted to finish higher than they did, and I know it looks bad that both teams got knocked out by Penn State. Honestly though, it's October, and it doesn't mean anything. It was what we needed it to be, everyone walks away with something from this tournament, and when we run train on those guys in the spring (well except for the track kid, 6 dudes already ran train on him, Rob and Chris get this reference, and it's funny, I promise), then they can celebrate their victory in Obtober all they want.

Since they're wasn't enough randomness in this post, I'll freestyle for a few minutes, and then I need to get back to work.

-I am obessessed with the new Jimmy Eat World CD to the point that I listen to it in class.

-What do you call a masturbating cow?....Beef strogonoff!!!

-I am also obessesed with the TV show Californication. If you haven't checked it out, you should. It's by far the best half hour of my week.

-I put together a 90 minutes 90's song power hour (and a half). It's really good. It also gets you drunk.

-It wouldn't be a Josh blog post without some girl story. Unfortunatly, it's been drought city for me around here, but hopefully there's something good on the horizon. Me and Pat always bet on bowling, and my idea for this one was that we go on a double date, whoever loses has to bring the other one a hot girl who theyve never met before as their date (I would come up with that as a bet). I lost. I started going through my phone, and I realized two things. One, every girl I ever get somewhat emotionally interested in shortly thereafter ends up in a serious relationship with some dude that isn't me. That was a little depressing. The second is that I don't really know many girls left in Pittsburgh who Pat doesn't, since most people my age or older are gone, and most people younger, he knows. So for those of you who remember the trio of girls from Deleware who graced us with their presense last fall, let's just say me and Pat will be taking a trip to Deleware for a reunion of sorts. And it's one of those situations where the ceiling of things that could happen has been removed. It could go good, it could go bad. But if I had to take a guess, I think it's gonna be me finding Pat or Pat finding me in the morning, going up to the other one, and just being like, dude we need to the THE FUCK out of here. Running to the car and flooring it out of there, only to tell a story about...well that'll have to be for another blog post. Time to be a productive member of society again, I'm at work and I don't think they're paying me to write about girls in Deleware. Until next time...

Long Time Coming




Alrite, so first of all, the reason I haven't written in so long, is ______

With that being said, I know you've all missed me, so I'll try not to dissapoint. Two quick things worth noting:
1. I got my life fucked up tonight, so I'm a little wired. But I always seem to be wired when I write these, so no big deal.
2. I'm going to stay with the ramblings format until otherwise noted. It's just easier for me because it favors a lack of focus. Lightbulb? Ha, get it? Lack of focus, lightbulb. Yeah, that was brokeback, my bad.
2a. I'm slowly starting to use the term "Brokeback" instead of gay. As in Brokeback mountain, the movie about gay cowboys.

Here we go:

-First of all, I'm going out and making a bold prediction. Pitt will win Queen City. This is something I'm feelin real good about. When we went down to Clemson for our first tournament last year, I don't think we really expected to win and it just kind of happened. The odds were stacked against us then (lot of injuries and what not), and they're stacked against us here (we're a lot healthier than we were a few weeks ago, but Sean, Stu, Brent, Vatz, amongst others all have some sort of shit goin on). Not to mention, we faced Clemson in the finals last year. Clemson this year will be a Georgia/Michigan/NC State caliber team. Quite a difference. But I still think we're pullin this out. And maybe I'll even get to throw a few more hucks on universe point in the finals.

So why post this? Not really sure. Maybe someone will post it on RSD after the tourny if we win and itll give the ME some street cred. Maybe it's a confidence thing. Maybe I've just been thinking about it a lot and wanted to jot it down. Not really sure. One thing I do like the idea of though is looking back on this when we finish our season. It would have been really cool last year to look back and see I predicted us winning Clemson (this didnt actually happen, just sayin), and got a good chuckle out of it.

-Ok, so I'm in the middle of a Civil War right now, and I just won at Gettsyburg. That means absolutley nothing to all but like 3 people reading this. But here's all you need to know:

I have a history with a girl, its been a lot of ups and downs, and that doesnt do it justice. But anyway, night ended with a kiss goodnight, which was about the last thing I expected. Earlier in the night she also ate a piece of the omlette I spit out on her plate. I was chewing and a little piece flew out and she said if I did it again she'd punch me in the face. So naturally I spit out a pretty big chunk right on her plate (I'm charming, I know), which I later dared her to eat. Sure sounds like I found a real winner.

-Prior to this, I took a test in my Quantatative Methods class. Not only did I fail it, but in the middle of the test I realized I'd have to withdraw from the class because I was going to fail it so bad. I don't even know if I got into double figures. I shit you not.

-Pike. So J Dono sent me and Sean an email inviting us to play Club Terminus with them. This was a HUGE deal for me. Everyone knows about my Pike obessesion, so this gesture really hit home. Granted playing Pike wouldn't be the same without Walt and Jaeger around, but it'd still be a pretty cool experience. I'd get a hella lot better playing with those guys, I'm a big Jersey pride type of person so that aspect is cool, I'd get to spend a lot more time with Billy Kieffer, which is awesome, Club Nationals sounds like its a neat little tournament, and I think I'd actually be able to help out the team. I had no intention of ever playing club again after the mess that was last year with Burgh, but this has me rethinking a bit, so we'll see how it goes.

-Speaking of people no longer with Pike, I helped put an end to Juggernaut's 45 game win streak last week. We played pretty well and were definatly the better team that night, but those guys still impressed me. Not to mention, a 45 game win streak is pretty ridiculous when you think about it. I also like playing against them (Weas, Stu, Marky, Bourland, etc), as its theyre all classy and play hard, so its pretty enjoyable. Is this paragraph here because Weasel said I'm his favorite blog to read? Probably. But I did actually mean what I wrote there, and look forward to rockin the Blaze jersey and kickin their asses again in finals.

-So speaking of Weasel, you HAVE to go up and talk to him about Michella. He turns into like a kiddy 7th grader who just saw a set of boobs for the first time. It's priceless, and I don't think itll ever get old.

-OK, drift off time real quick. I want to talk about a theory I discussed I came up with with the aforementioned girl at EatnPark tonight. I think popeye raped Olive Oyl at some point or another in their lives. PS, I couldn't remember Olive Oyl's name, so I asked our waitress, and she not only told me, but said she was talking about Popeye the other day. Kinda weird. I have another story like that, I'll put it after this theory. This all routes back to my belief that spinach is evil, and warns you with its bad taste (loosely based off a theory from the Simpsons). With that being said, Popeye downed spinach like it was his job, which makes him strong, and evil. Olive Oyl, meanwhile, just sat in the middle of Popeye and Frankie (I forgot the other dudes name, so I just call him Frankie), waited to see who would win, and went home with him, but never put out, because she was always in the middle again next time. Brokeback as shit. But anyway, you know Popeye got frustrated with this. That cartoon went on for more than 50 years, and she always pulled her shit, stayin in the middle to see who would come out on top. Well frankly, I think thats bullshit. And I'm sure popeye agreed. After all those years of her being a stupid bitchwhore, don't you think its possible he just got frustrated afer a while? Especially since the spinach made him evil, and he could do it so easily because he was so strong. Stupid bitchwhore+frustration+spinach+evil=rape. Yeah, your thinking about it, and you agree. I know, you don't have to tell me.

-Ok, other weird story. So there's this girl in my econ of china class that me and Vatz refer to as "Blue Shirt" because the first day of class she wore a blue shirt. So we were trying to get her attention, and he called her blue shirt, but that didn't work. Then he called her Dannon water, because she had a bottle of Dannon water, and that didn't work. So then I told him he should just call her Emily or something and she'd respond and you could just say you took a guess because she looked like an Emily. So he said Hey Emily, and she turned around, and we both just kinda freaked out and asked if her name was actually Emily and she said it was. Of all the fuckin names in the world, what are the odds that I actually guessed that right? Crazy...

-Ok, so the Super Bowl. First of all let me address the bandwagon Steeler fan accusations. They are kinda true, but theres more to it. First of all, I'm a Cowboys fan, so I had no soul to begin with. This makes me free to do whatever I want. Here's the thing about Pittsburgh sports teams. Theyre all very lovable. You just cant help but root for them. This got taken to a new level with the Steelers as the playoff run went on. After the AFC championship game and I got to riot for the first time in my life, I was rooting for two things in the Super Bowl. A Pittsburgh win, and more rioting. I got both, and it was fuckin awesome. So if this lowers your respect level for me, than that's cool. I can't say it's something I was thrilled about eihter. But frankly, when I was wasted out of my mind surrounded by thousands of drunk people lighting shit on fire and flipping cars Sunday night, I didn't really give a shit what anyone thought about me, and it was the coolest night of my life. The city just came alive in a way I've never seen during the playoff run. Is it wrong that I jumped ship, got to celebrate rioting and at the parade, and felt like my team won when they won? Its possible. But it was a hell of a ride. So thank you to the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh mutherfuckin Steelers.

-So I've had a bunch of music comments in my last few posts. Right now I'm listenting to Ben Folds, which is kinda normal. I've also been on a Jimmy Eat World kick, and have been doing a lot of Stones and Beatles latley. Plus a "Wild Horses" cover done by the Sundays which I really like. So somewhere hidden in all that teenie bopper pop, their is a half decent taste. Well at least there was, until I just put on "Girl on TV" by LFO. And yes, I know all the words to this song.

-Ok, so I spent more time writing this than I wanted to, so I guess I "blew my load" as our buddy Hotballs Johnson from the comments section wrote. I'm assuming you're Tim Johnson, but if not thats cool too. If people who read/comment want to say who they are I think that'd be kinda cool, but I won't hold it against ya either way. Who knows, maybe you'll get a Weasel style shout out if ya speak up though. Plus it would make me feel pretty damn good about myself if I started seeing some big names in the comments section. This means you Walt and Jaeger. But yeah, I'm done for now, I'll try and put together a Queens City victory post when we get back from Charlotte.

Hugs and Kisses to All.
Passionate Kisses.
With lots of tongue.

-Josh