This Guy Falls Down

I should get a prize or something

In its current form, this could be the tackiest website on the internet. Well, maybe not. But it's pretty hideous, between the yellow and black and orange, and the blue and black blog poll. Not to mention the inexplicable (as of yet) light blue/puke green middle column.

Mark, where have you been?

Here I am again, having to come to the table with the explanation as to where I've been for the last few days. This time, I was in Atlanta for a conference/showcase to introduce our new album to some music industry types. It went quite well. I'm really excited about our new songs, and it was fun to play those live.
"So that still doesn't explain why you haven't posted," you may be wondering right now. Well, step back, and your queries will be answered. It's because the hotel I was staying at charged $14 for an internet connection, that's why.
Well I'm back.

There goes my theory

So, after a little over a week, my highly scientific presidential poll stands tied at 9-9. Honestly, I thought that it would lean more towards Kerry, sheerly based on the attention he's been getting lately. Then, I was going to do another poll come August or so (I'll still try to do that) to see if that had changed any, fully expecting it to lean more towards Bush (we'll be getting into debate season by then).
What does it mean that it's tied? I have no idea. Maybe people voted based on who they wanted to win instead of who they thought would win. Or maybe that just shows how up-in-the-air this race is right now.

Aw, what the heck

Here, presented in Deacon yellow and black (yes, I know it's really old gold or something - I'm working with limited options here), I present to you the latest incarnation of this site. Hey, at least it's better than Carolina blue, right?
I've been meaning to change the look of this site, and this will force me to do it sooner, rather than later.
BTW, I think I've screwed up my "Blog Poll" in the process. For anyone who cared, it was knotted at 7 votes for Bush, 7 votes for Kerry. More on that one soon.

CONGRATULATIONS to BEN WRIGHT

OK, OK. I'll give credit where it's due. And tonight that would be Wake Forest. I almost changed the colors of this page to Deacon colors in their honor, but couldn't bring myself to do it.
Even though my guys lost, it was one of the best games I've seen this year. It was like watching street ball. Except for the fouls, of course. B.J. Elder tore it up in the second half, scoring 26 (last time I checked). And the Jackets clawed back from a 13-point deficit to tie it with only a couple of minutes to go. But there's something psychological about coming back from so far down. Wake scored a couple of baskets at the end, and that pretty much clinched it.
Everybody go visit Ben and congratulate him on his team.

On another note, it's starting to look a little grim for Maryland. They're quickly becoming that 7th team in the conference that I was talking about last week. And they'll need some big wins down the stretch if they want to play much in March.

Are you a Yankee or a Southerner?

Not that you don't already know, but here's a fun test to find out where you're from, based on grammar and syntax. I leaned 96% towards the Southern end of the spectrum.
BTW, those of you who fail this test (i.e. come up Yankee) will be escorted off the premises immediately. (via blogdex)

I'm not scatter brained, I'm a divergent thinker

Meet the new me. The organized me. The - oh, who am I trying to kid? I'm still the same old scatter brained divergent thinker that I was. But I am, thanks to the organizational literature you see listed to your right, working hard in the organizational category. This particular book is geared towards the right-brained, and let me tell you - these people have me pegged so bad that it's scary. Down to the fact that I always end up reading magazines every time I try to go through my clutter. Maybe some of this sounds like you as well:

1. You underestimate the time it takes to get ready in the morning, so you're ALWAYS late, but you haven't ever thought of giving yourself extra time.


2. You're really excited about the early stages of a project, but quickly become bored and move on to something else.


3. Because of #2, you get many things 90% done, but never finish anything.


4. You are somehow comforted by being surrounded by things you like, so you never throw anything away.


5. You make up excuses like "I never have any time." or "Creative people are messy."

Do you want me to stop now? Are you getting uncomfortable, like I was? Then I highly recommend this book. It's a left-brained world, and if you want to function in it, you've got to establish some left-brained habits. The beauty of it, though, is that you can always find a right-brained solution to the problem. We right-brained people are good at that.

Review: Songbook, by Nick Hornby (****1/2 out of 5)

For the first time (I think) in 2004, I present to you a book review. It's not that I haven't been reading much lately. I'm just extremely right-brained, and I'm trying - literally - to read 4 books at once. Well, now it's down to three...

Vocabulary builder

OK, so I'm at it again with the vocabulary. I was in a bookstore the other day and I saw one of those "vocabulary builder" books. It sounded like a good idea, so I looked through it. The funny thing was that it was filled with words that I would never use in a sentence, like "ameliorate" and "antebellum". It takes less time to just say "make it better" than to say "ameliorate" and then have to explain to the person what "ameliorate" means. Or with "antebellum", just go ahead and say "that house has been here since before the Civil War".
I guess for me, the point of vocabulary is to be able to express yourself better. My definition of a "power word" would be vastly different from Miriam or Webster. A good power word to me would be "chafe". It's more interesting to say "that chafes me", than "that bothers me". Or what about "slough", as in "I sloughed off my friends and went to the game by myself". Words like that can instantly ameliorate anyone's vocabulary. Sorry, that was fairly pathetic.

Arena Football Update

Well the Arena Football League Writers Association (yes, they really exist) has released their top teams of the week. The biggest surprises of the season so far have to be #4 Carolina and #8 New Orleans. Carolina has gone from an 0-16 finish last season to a 2-0 start. And expansion New Orleans has looked very impressive in two close wins thus far. Both teams have big tests this weekend, as each faces a playoff team from a year ago.
On another note, Georgia's own Markeith Cooper was named player of the week by the aforementioned AFLWA.