Tomorrow marks the beginning of the spring semester. I, however, will not be in class, but at work. Both works, actually. Yet another semester of only Tuesday/Thursday classes.

Somehow, despite a good three weeks off, I still manage to feel...off. Worn down? Might be a better descriptor. Not ready for another semester, that's for damn sure. Fall semesters always seem to take a lot out of me. Yet I always find myself excited for the fall, probably due to mountain bike season.

Speaking of bikes, I've been weak-willed in that department, and havn't ridden at all yet this year. I really just want to go dirt jump, but that won't help me go faster. I need to buckle down and make some sort of half-assed training effort. It was a new years resolution sort of thing.

And on the topic of new years resolution things, I've been doing pretty well. My efforts towards fiscal responsibility have been going pretty well. Stayed inside my weekly budget this week (barely), and the cash only thing is a good call. It's remarkable how easy it is to just blow money on shit with a debit card. Hopefully I'll be able to safe up enough cash to get a downhill bike by this coming fall. I could always finance it, and I probably will, if I can have between one third and one half of the cost in cash, and disposable. It'll be hard though, with the upgrades I'm making with my dirt jump bike. But that's why I have two jobs, and instituted this budget. I had to go headfirst into such a damn expensive hobby...

Also on the new years resolution-esque front, I've been cooking more. And eating more veggies. I completely cut beef out of my diet, and have been trying to use more fresh vegetables as opposed to canned, and have been eating salad and such. It's definitely more comforting, I feel like I'm eating a real meal, like back at my parents house.

And now time to throw my clothes in the dryer and get to bed, so I'll wake up on time and can make lunch before work tomorrow.

Today is December 13th. As I left my first Final today, around 11:45, I rode over to my local coffee shop for my caffeine fix. I'm wearing shorts and a tshirt. And sweating. Mid december, and it's 80 degrees in sunny Gainesville. Welcome to north central Florida.

Now, around this time tomorrow, I'll be on my way to Jacksonville, to get on a plane to Kansas City, where the high temp for tomorrow is, according to the weather channel, 30 degrees. Though, by the time we get in tomorrow around 10 pm, it will likely be approaching the low, which is 21.
On Saturday, we're planning on pre-riding the course. High of 26, 70 percent chance of snow showers. On Sunday, when my race starts at 10 am, I highly doubt we'll be anywhere near the forecasted high of 32. It's going to be the most bonkers race I think I've ever participated in. It should be fun, in that 'this is completely insane but I'm still going to do it' kind of way. Yea, cyclocross!

Talk about some drastic temperature changes. At least it'll be nice when we get back to Florida. a cold front is coming through, so highs will be in the 60's. Finally, a cold snap.

Almost done with school, one more exam tonight at 5:30, and that's it.

hot dog.

that just opened this entry. or post. what-have-you.
so things are things. Thanksgiving was busy, but nice. seeing family is always great, the grub was amazing, and it was the first time i'd been home since sometime in the summer. school is hectic this week, one final on thursday and two papers are due as well. cyclocross race in tally on saturday. should be fun. one of my best friends is coming back into town for the weekend, which should promise to be entertaining, in the least, if not down right raucous. things will get rowdy, of this i have no doubt.

I've got my flights arranged for cyclocross nats, so kansas city, here i come. for a weekend, hah. there from dec 14th through the 16th. shit should be bonkers. (will you be in town then leslie?)

working a bunch, i really like working at chain. except, i hate dealing with customers. i'm not a good salesman, and i feel awkward talking about anything but mountain bikes, and even then, i don't feel all that familiar with what i'm trying to get this person to buy. i guess i just need to go over the product lines and marketing speech.

i'm getting a headache from the computer screen. time to get cracking on some schoolwork, after some food and tea. mmmm.

the PIETASTERS.

9.21.07 Jinx Savannah, GA
9.22.07 The Masquerade Atlanta, GA

probably the atlanta gig. hey justin (or anyone else living in/near A-town) any chance of seeing you there?

word up livejournal land

it's been a while.
so here's a smattering of things that have occured in the last few months.

-withdrew from all my classes this semester. i was working too much, and my grades had dropped severely, and looking at grad schools, i still need another .2 or so to add onto the current 3.4. 2 d's, one c, and a b would not have accomplished that.
-because of this, i now get an extra fall semester. which is kind of cool.
-i'm 21 now. nothings changed, except now i can go into the store and pick it out myself.
-bought a new bike.
-doing plenty of rock climbing, while managing to continuously maintain the slightly injured state of my right hand.
-it's finally summer in n. central florida, after weeks of indecision where it would randomly be 67 degrees for a few days then warm up only to do it all again. the beach and the springs will hopefully be frequent visits.
-i just read fast food nation. i'm angry. i also suggest that everyone pick up a copy, or grab it from the local library, and read it. downright disturbing.
-my brother, steve, graduates from high school this saturday, and in the fall he's going up to georgia tech. it's hard to compete when you're a history/anthropology major who just withdrew from classes, and your brother is going to ga. tech to be an engineer. oh well, can't win 'em all

i guess thats it. i dunno
how's everybody doing?

so, since i'm a dumbtard, i have recently bought a pair of climbing shoes that are a bit too small for me.

Montrail Karma, sized 40.5
only wore them once, for maybe 7 bouldering routes? one scuff on the montrail logo. like you weren't going to do that soon anyways.

they were retail 110, i got them on clearance (thus non-returnable) for 80.
anyone interested?
make me an offer?

collegiate mountain bike nationals again! and i get to go!
approximately via this route:


( again, zoomed in more )

Total Est. Time: 34 hours, 34 minutes Total Est. Distance: 2175.24 miles

And that's only one way.....

from Gainesville FL, to Angel Fire, New Mexico, by way of Tallahassee and Johnson City, Tn, to catch a ride with the guys from Eastern Tenn. State (they get free gas in the van, jam)
23+ of those hours is the tennessee to new mexico drive.

oh, collegiate mountain biking, how i love thee.

I got run over by a van on sunday.

That's the short story. A little more in depth version:
We'd just finished up the MTB race weekend in Conyers, GA, and are loading up to go home. The guys from ETSU were rolling out of the parking lot to head out, and I ran over to their van to say bye (note: I was running perpendicular to the van, not head on). Then I hit the muddy spot in the gravel parking lot, and slip, fall, and wind up sliding baseball style directly under the passenger side front tire.

So the aftermath - only my right leg got run over. After 2 mg of Dilaudids and 7.5 hours in the Rockdale Medical Center it was determined I had no fractures and was given a half assed cleaning and wrapping. Road rash all up the outside of my right leg from a few inches below the knee to mid thigh, a real big, deep chunk ripped out of my knee, a couple other deep cuts on the outside of the knee. Minor scrapes and road rash on the left knee and foot.

Now I'm getting it cleaned and the dressings changed daily at the infirmary, and its gettign alot better much quicker than I expected, atleast on the exterior. It's swollen up pretty good.
Once the swelling goes down and the cuts and abrasions start getting better, they'll start checking for damage to ligaments/tendons/whatever other soft tissues that may have gotten tore up.

For having gotten run over by a 15 passenger van full of people towing a trailer full of bikes, I'm feeling pretty good. That may be the percoset talking, but regardless, I feel pretty lucky to not have any fractures.

So that really all that is new. Thus ends my '06 mountain bike season, as well as my work schedule for the next week or so.
I'll try and take pictures tomorrow when the dressings come off.

so i will again have high speed internet on the 8th.
back to civilization.

i have no internet.
thus i am online on campus again.
til the 7th, when i move into my new house (!)

so call me if you need to get ahold of me.

the fact that this made the bbc, and the latest headlines tab on firefox....i don't know what to think.
myspace shuts down for half a day, and gets a bbc write up?
i want to laugh, cry, and kill myself, all at once.
but not before i check to see if i have any messages or friend requests i missed before the power outage.

two things have made my week. they are as follows:
Thurs Oct 26 - The Slackers
Sat Dec 2 - The Toasters, and THE PIETASTERS.

well, now i only have to wait and hope nothing happens to muck shit up

i need a hair cut. anyone care to do the honors?
nevermind. took care of it myself. and still have hair, haha

jeez, why can i not sleep.
life has been good of late.
one downside - my leatherman got stolen. i had to mail it home from the phoenix airport, cause i forgot to put it back into my checked baggage. so rather than surrender it, i went and mailed it back to gainesville. i go to check my mail today, and all that is in there is an empty envelope, ripped open, and then half-assed taped back up. and they still put it in my box, though it was obviously empty. pisses me of. i just needed to gripe some.

so i'm back in sunny, humid, south florida.
12 days of treking across the western expanses (utah, idaho, wyoming, arizona) and i can only say this: fuck the desert. give me highs in the upper 80's/mid 90's and 100% humidity every day over highs of 106 with 3% humidity.
other than that, it's beautiful out there. read all five books i brought with me, went to several national parks; yellowstone, arches, grand canyon, painted desert, petrified forest, and also to lake powell.
it was definitely an amazing experience, but i'm ready to get back up to gainesville.
time to rip as many of my dad's cd's to itunes before leaving.

-ian

so its quarter after 4, i'm working on schoolwork, and completely wired on caffeine.
so of course, i completely blow off the paper i've been trying to write and start mucking about on the intarwebs.

This is amazing. way better than those scooters they try to sell off to old people with arthritis. if i get old and can't walk anymore, i'm getting one of these, and mounting raming spikes or somesuch.

the prospect of having young children write speeches for politicians amuses me. having them do it, and then getting a voice actor to read them is brilliant. made even better because the bit of plausibility given the previous slips President Bush has made.

What happens when, in 1978, you strap a gyro-stabalized camera to a ferrari and get a formula 1 driver to tear through the center of Paris? This, and a lot of near misses and run redlights.

I know it is way to late to still be awake because:
- i just heard the street sweepers go by.

my computer is dying.
hello library internet.

if you need me for any reason in the next few weeks while i wait for a new hard drive and power thingy, call or email.

this keyboard sucks to the max.

so it's been awhile.
i've been trying to do a bit of street riding, more urban type stuff, since campus and downtown gainesville can be ridden to, rather than driving down to santos to dirt jump.

we had mudfest on friday. dug a mud pit, had mud wrestling. i won my match. i think the clothes i was wearing may be ruined. whatev, it was a real fun night.

school is going well so far, grades are doing fairly solid. my ego got a boost when i was quoted in my new world encounters class on the board....the "inherent plasticity" of ones personal identity. i'll expound upon the idea, and explain the context, if anyone cares to engage in a conversation on such.

last night some fuckwit decided to slash one of my tires. and, of course, it was one of the new ones, not one of the ones that's close to bald. so many fucktards in this damn city. i was ready to take a lug nut wrench to someones face this morning. i can't afford 50-60 bones for a new tire. good thing i may be getting a second job soon, eh? hopefully it pans out.

i want to ride more. unfortunately, 8 am will be here far too soon.

so...happy new year!
i'm off to colorado.