Subterranean By Design...
---Oh We Gotcha---
2003-12-15 - 4:42 p.m.
USA 1 - Saddam 0. Holy moley, again I am woken up to big news, but unlike September 11th, this bit of info brought a smile to my face. I spent the weekend at Brady's in Royal Oak, and he woke me up at the early hour of 11AM to inform me of the happenings. I am surprised that he allowed himself to be captured, and didn't pull an Adolph Hitler. Maybe he doesn't realize how vile he really is. After all, he was trying to rationalize his actions upon capture.
What a great day it was for the world. It will be very interesting to see how things play out from here. The man who was calling on loyalists to fight to the death and put up massive resistance hid in a hole in the ground and surrendered himself at first sign of struggle (though he was hopelessly outnumbered). Maybe budding terrorists will see this as an allegory to those who preach the same message to them: that those leaders are in all likelyhood unwilling to follow the code that they preach and that it's all bull shit. Hopefully that will happen, it probably won't, and we should plan for the worst, as always.
I think Bush benefitted greatly from this capture. It will be a huge "ace in the hole" (I didn't think of that myself, but I couldn't pass it up) come November. The thing I think in undeniable about Bush is that he has his principles and he acts on them more than other politicians. Like his policies or not, the man is consistent and honorable. The capture also hurts Howard Dean, who has one of the strongest anti-Iraq stances among the Democratic candidates. Should be another exciting election year.
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The weekend was eventful. Friday started out with a trip to Flint to take Christina to the airport. Getting up early was tough, especially after staying up until 3AM the night before, a night that included a 1:15AM trip to the hot tub. It wasn't getting out that was so bad, it was walking there in the first place. I was chattering like a chipmunk. But when I got out, it was like I had just gotten out of the shower and still had the internal heat working for me. About two thirds of the way back to the apartment, though, it got a little chilly.
I finished off things at MSU by meeting Lia and a student from Emerging Scholars. We had a good time testing series for convergence and divergence, and then I sent them on their way (well, sort of). Headed to Brady's and arrived close to 6PM. Werner got there just after me as he spent a good while in traffic on I-696. We had some pizza and headed out for the night. Things started at a bar called O'Toole's. I didn't get anything for free, but I did act like I owned the place. We ordered this tower of beer and talked it up with some of Matty's friends. Then we took our business down the block to a place called 5th Avenue. It was a bar with about 12-15 pool tables...at 12 bucks an hour! Well that was a little steep, but Matty hooked us up and we shot a little stick. I dominated in cut-throat but then some of Matt's friends wanted to play. It wouldn't have been so bad had this Colleen girl paid attention when it was her turn to shoot. Girls are like that, though. Ever since the "Rachel BOWL" incident involving Rob Brydon, I've been aware that women aren't in it for the competition (check that, women that aren't Deanna Werner), they're there to talk talk talk. But it was still a good time.
After the bars, Werner and Brady and I decided to hit the casino in D-Town. After all, MGM stands for "Matt Gets Money." Well on any other night it does. On this night, it stood for "Matt gets Marred." I didn't have the luck with me, but both Brady and Werner were able to climb out of the holes they were initially in and come out up about 10 apiece. Me, I dropped about 90, not a huge loss. We drove back to the Oak and crashed.
Saturday began with lunch at Panera. Brady and I then picked up a pair of tickets to the MSU/Kentucky game at Ford Field and headed in for that. Brady's haphazard driving patterns made me nautious, but I was able to hold on to my cookies. I normally don't get car-sick anymore, but erratic driving still does it to me. Ford Field was pretty nice. We got there, walked around a little, and found our seats...last row in the upper deck in the endzone! We had to fight for those seats, let me tell you. Well, they were free for us and only eight bucks for whoever bought them, so it was worth it just to see the stadium. MSU lost by five. They couldn't seem to get over the hump.
Saturday night it was a trip to QDoba and then back to 5th Avenue. It's a stellar place, I just wish that pool was a bit less expensive. Oh well. On Sunday, Brady woke me up with the news. It was good. I took off for home and made a stop at Lia's. It was great to get back and see her. She made a fantastic dinner, and we watched Finding Nemo which was really good. They nailed it right on the head when characterizing the seagulls. Damned birds...
Today I was supposedly on break, but I found myself studying numerical analysis with Ahmet yet again. It was a good session, and we're almost done with the second semester of material. We figure another 6-7 days and we'll be through the sequence. Then it's on to problem solving. The big day is the 17th of January. I will either be in a great mood or psychologically destroyed.
Bowling in an hour and fifteen. You know I'm pumped.
Song Currently on WinAmp: "New Age Girl" by Deadeye Dick. Yeah, that's right baby! I remember that I hesitantly requested this song at the Christmas dance my sophomore year and it was a huge hit on the dance floor. For those that don't know this song by name, it's the tune from Dumb & Dumber with the classic line "she don't eat meat but she sure likes the bone."
Two Steps Forward - Two Steps Back
