greg is a dirty old man

Right now I'm in Pittsburgh, waiting around while Lindsey's away at work.

Before I left however, I was talking to Greg and this is how the conversation went.
Greg: Mike, get into bed.
Mike: Oh Greggy!
Greg: Alright, now lay down.
Mike: Greeeg.
Greg: No, lay down the other way.
Mike: *Lays down the other way*
Greg: Do you feel it getting firmer yet?
Mike: Hahahaha

Get it?
Gawd, why the hell did I bother posting this?

mike's rant before bed.

Today's rant is about the GRE's.

So, I have a confession to make. Before my senior year of college, I had no idea that the GRE's existed. My only knowledge of them comes from away messages of several friends that were studying for them. I figgured graduate school was a while aways and I didn't really have to bother with them at all. Plus, when I started at Lockheed, it would be easy for me to get into grad school, b/c, well.. I was with Lockheed. Corporate benefits, don'tcha know.

Recently, it has come to my attention that despite the fact that I work at Lockheed, there will be no greased wheels or ease of getting into graduate school. I'm just some average guy coming off the street. Well, now I'm worried. See, in my mind, the GRE's must be something terrible. I mean, these are for people going into graduate school, right? There must be reams of calculus and steady state problems from here to eternity. And as for the vocabulary... Well, after attending a polytechnic school for (4) years, I had reason to worry.

So tonite, I borrowed one of Greg's "Cracking the GRE" and figgured I would have a look as to what I was up against. And I opened it up, and I became angry. The GRE's are nothing more than the SAT's for graduate school. A different scoring system, yes - but the problems were geared towards high school students. No calculus. No deep verbal allusions to 19th century authors. Just analogies and the occasional algebra problem. Was this a joke? Had I picked up the wrong book? Did Greg read my mind and attempt to fool me tonite? This revelation upset me for two reasons.

The first, less aggravating reason:
1] If they're going to test applicants, why not actually test them? I mean, isn't this for what we're paying? I feel they just want to waste my time.
The second, balls-out reason:
2] Why the fuck do we even need the GRE? Doesn't the fact that we completed our undergraduate studies prove something? Look at our transcript. I suppose this argument could be made for the SAT's in high school (and actually has been made many times). But for crying out loud, this is college. If they can't determine our status after looking at this information, then I highly doubt the GRE will influence anything at all.

If they're making us take a test just so they can charge us for it to make money for no point whatsoever.. Well, then they're just republicans. And that just sucks.

Another 11 hour day at work tomorrow, but at least I solved my first problem today. I feel useful!
Whooooooo.

Nite kids.
07.28 -> 07.31 : Pittsburgh
08.04 -> 08.07 : Jersey
Hit me up if you're in the area.

Taste of Jersey

What a swell weekend. As those of you who check this may know, Robbie Lubas and Maggie Navs come down to visit me this weekend. On Friday, us kids (also included were Gregface and Kathy) went out for some dinner on King Street, and we walked around a little bit before retiring back to my apartment. Kathy and Maggie slept on my mattress on the floor, and Rob and I shared a futon. He made high pitched weezing noises in the middle of the night. Kind of like a balloon after you pop it, and then squeeze the remaining air out. Kinda.

Saturday Greg left to get a new car. He's thinking of an Aston Martin, and Porsche, or a Camry. I think he's getting the Aston. The rest of us went to the zoo to see some crazy animals and then swung up to this theatre called the Uptown, where we saw The Island. That movie is such a Michael Bay flick. Fast camera angles. Decent graphics with enough entertainment so it won't get boring. No character development. Weak storyline. That basically sums it up right there. Scarlett Johanson was pretty cute in her little white track suit though. After some sushi, we ended up getting lost on the way back home. *Sigh*. Maggie made a poor showing of drinking with me, and ended up going to sleep. I've always wanted to get Maggie into my bed. Too bad I was in the other room sleeping with Rob. >.<

Sunday was lunch with aformentioned and Joe Navs. We ate french. I didn't feel cultured, but it was tasty nonetheless. Then they left and I spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing.

And now I start work again tomorrow. Ho hum.
Going to see if I can start flexing my hours so I can get Friday off so that way I can see Lindsey.
Nite kids.

Shortbread.

I was going to write a decent post in here, but I ended up talking to Lindsey, so I'll leave you with something short.

1] Tomorrow is friday which means the last day of work for the week. YAY!
2] Tomorrow is friday so the kiddies from jersey come. YAY! (Maybe Rob will bring large watermelon like fruits)
3] Today, I got overcharged at the Citgo station. I had an emissions test done and they charged me for (2) things instead of (1). My growing distrust of auto garages is started to match the cliche.

I've been working out lately. My boobies hurt.

Nite nite.

Monday sings for what yesterday brings.

I'm sitting on Greg's futon listening to the constant ruckus the family that lives above me always seems to bring throughout the day. Displeased to admit it, I'm also watching an episode ofPrices of Malibu. POM is one of those shows that's like The Simple Life, it's got not intellectual value whatsoever and everything that happens is "static in a complex world". Jon Stewart said that line about our culture. Jon said that he believes that our [culture] is static in a complex world. Anyways, I'm trying not to watch the show, but there's really nothing better to do on this Sunday nite.

Greg's up at Veronica's. His brake line was losing a whole slew of fluid, and his car couldn't make it back down. This whole breakdown happened at a pretty opportune time though, considering he's going to be buying a car next weekend.

Speaking of next weekend, Robbie and Mags are coming down to see me. I'm excited for this. There's always room in Northern Virginia for some Jersey flavor. I really hate the people who live above me. They're so very noisy.

Lindsey was here this weekend, which is always a pleasure. I've come to realize that this whole 4-hour thing, although annoying, isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Last week, I drove out to see her and the time on the road went by quicker than expected. Something about the anticpation of seeing her, or basking in the happiness of a good weekend on the way back, just makes the time fly by. Who knows, maybe in a few years there'll be a future over the western horizon.

Family Guy just did this really awesome scene from A-Ha's "Take On Me" music video, and then they did a scene from Neverending Story. I wonder how many people got both of those references. I feel cooler b/c I got them, but I know that just makes me lame.

Hopefully I'll make this a normal thing. You know, updating.
Peace.