I Like Smart Boys.

Lemme tell you a little story about two guys, Zach and Jakob. The guys met in 1999 and founded Connected Ventures, "a business who designs and develops good websites." Their business is based out of a kick-ass NYC office. These guys, and all of their friends and co-workers, who happen to be just as amusing and talented, aren't playing around. They're in their early twenties and manage 7 websites. Incredible! And they've received amazing press from Playboy magazine and Rolling Stone, what twenty-something guy wouldn't want to have those credentials behind them? I'm not really sure how long I've known about the guys and their venture, but I've kept myself posted daily ever since. When Jakob breaks out his video camera, you never know quite what to expect...but here's a sample...if only my workday could be so much fun... note: Jakob is singing lead, Zach is playing back-up on air drums.

View this clip on Vimeo

Check out their other sites if you get a chance, I guarantee, you won't want to miss what these guys are up to!

All Dumb - the site's title aptly describes it, I believe.

Big Shocker - yeah. it's selling exactly what it's describing.

Busted Tees - they use their hot friends to sell hilarious t-shirts...check 'em out and then buy 'em. Note: the "I Gave My Word to Stop at Third" T-shirt is on sale for $12.99!

College Humor - if it's crazy and it's NSFW, chances are it's here...

Crazewire - amazing music source

Defunker - another site that sells tees, only this time, they're designed by friends AND modeled on them.

Vimeo - this is one of my top three absolute most favorite sites, I know that I'm guarateed one loud laugh or snorty chuckle every day when I visit. Some of this stuff is incredible, some of it is stupid, but some is really, really good. Check them out and find your own favorites. For starters, check out anything from Zach and Jakob's collection. If you liked the above clip, you'll love the rest! Enjoy!

And let's not forget their friends:

David Cho - the guy who can do an awesome wave

Ricky - the editor of College Humor who is funnier than hell

Do You Hear What I Hear??

As you know, when I become obsessed with something, I really go all out. Lately the hobby of choice has been scrapbooking, but I've also learned of something else that is really blowing my skirt up. God bless the audioblog! As you've probably read, I haven't had my computer fixed for very long so it still has that "new" feel to it. I'm not yet bored, always finding new things and updating old things. As I was importing files into itunes to replace the ones that I lost in the "computer crash of 2005", I found some old blogs that I used to visit daily when my computer was in working order. One of them led me to audioblogs and I've been importing MP3s everyday since. I've gotten some really great new stuff and replaced some old classics. It's sooo exciting! Then again, I live for cheap thrills. Anyway, no sense in me keeping the love all to myself...here's a list of my new favorite audioblogs...Have fun!

3 Hive

Blow-Up Doll

Bubblegum Machine

Bumrocks

Copy, Right? (one of favorites...)

Fluxblog

Funtime OK

Good Rockin' Tonight

Headphone Sex

Hug Robot Radio

Into the Groove

Lost in the 80's

Moistworks

Movable Walls

Muppetpastor 3.0

Novafall

Pop77

Poptext

Said the Gramophone

Sixeyes

Stereogum (who doesn't know about this one??)

The Suburbs are Killing Us

Womenfolk

You Ain't No Picasso

And if you want to make sure that you didn't miss any new MP3 posts on a number of selected audioblogs, visit The Hype Machine, which provides the download on it's site and a link to the post. It's updated as often as the sites are updated. Excellent resource! Have fun, friends!!

Any audioblogs that you think I'm missing and shouldn't be??

The "Ultimate" Saturday...

When I met V we discussed the typical first date things...our careers, our hobbies, our education, and our hobbies. V was really excited to tell me at that time about "Ultimate" , and seemed surprised when I had no clue what he was talking about. He was so excited about it in fact, that he took me to his car after dinner and gave me brief lesson on the rules of playing "Ultimate" and showed me his "disc" ...heh, sounds dirty, doesn't it? The following weeked, he invited me to play with him and the guys. When I suggeted that I would just sit by and watch, he frowned, informing me that if I went to watch, I was going to play. Needless to say, I didn't yet know if V was worthy of myself dodging Frisbees all afternoon, so we decided on an alternate activity. I quickly learned, as V continued to talk about the sport, that I was no where ready to even attempt it, nor did I have the required cleats. Months went by and I heard nothing more about "Ultimate" until a few weekends ago. Vincent had asked me what I had going on and told me about an actual "Ultimate" tournament in Jacksonville that he was going to go watch. I decided to tag along, if it's important to V, it's important to me. He hadn't played since we had been dating and I still wasn't that clear if it was because we spent most weekends together and he just didn't have time or if it was due to multiple "Ultimate" incidents, one in which he even had to get 4 stictches above his left eye. Anyway, I was still curious about "Ultimate" and really didn't understand the point of it. I was just thinking that it was a glorified game of Frisbee. I would soon learn that it was completely different and even mentioning the word "Frisbee" around this gang would hold great consequences.

We risked the rain and showed up at the park. Much to our surprise, the games were already underway and there were TONS of people playing, including some bad-ass chicks. We threw down a blanket and took it all in. V took some great action shots and talked to some of the guys he used to play with. As the action was crazy on the field, I was in the zone. I became addicted to "Ultimate" . I'm still not sure that I could ever play it, but it was amazing. And certainly much, much different that I was expecting. I thought that it'd be a little more violent and I thought that it would just be a lot of Frisbee tossing and running. Nope. There were some quite complex rules and I found myself constantly asking V questions about the game. He did his best to answer them all between shots. I guess the most impressive thing about the game, other than the kick-ass way that they were throwing the disc, a style, the "flick", that I had never witnessed and V has yet to teach, was the athletism of these people. They were in it for the kill. It was much less complicated than football and most simlar to basketball with the "ultimate" (pardon the pun...) goal of catching the disc in the end zone to score. These players had great strategies and knew what they were doing and it was evident.

Thanks to V for teaching me the difference between a Frisbee and a disc...I will be forever grateful.

To find out where you can get involved with "Ultimate" in your area, check out this site.

Wow...It's Been A While...

Again, apologies, apologies, apologies...been busy, been lazy, been irresponsible...here ya go...not one, but 4 new posts! Enjoy!!

Bathroom Coda

Soooo...I was going pee at V's house the other day. After I flushed, the unthinkable began to happen, the toilet began to overflow. I was puzzled because there really wasn't any reason for it. I'm very frugal when it comes to paper usage. Of course, V would disagree, but trust me on this one. Anyway, I rushed out of the bathroom, grabbed the nearest plunger and went at it like a pro. Of course, I stopped the water and V, like he is, had to evaluate the situation a bit further. At one point, he was actually stirring the water in the toilet, long after the situation was remedied, like it was a caulderon and he was mixing a brew.

Why am I telling you this story? Fast forward to the evening (or should I say early the next morning...), Becky and I have full bladders and are preparing to take the 30-mile trek back to the "Patch" at 2 a.m. We decided to stop at a Holiday Inn on the way out of town to "unload", if you will. While we're sitting next to each other in the stalls, I tell Becky of the above experience, which led to a further discussion about bathroom pet peeves. The more I thought about it, my list is quite lengthy. My sometimes strange bathroom habits are well-known among my friends, but I thought I'd publish a special comprehensive list for those interested parties...I know you're out there...

1. I cannot use a "one-seater" public restroom. I always feel like I have to hurry because someone is going to come beating on the door at any moment.

2. I always have to give a pre-cautionary flush before I begin. I would rather have the toilet overflow before I've used it.

3. I can only be wearing only one layer when I go to the bathoom. For example, if I'm wearing a t-shirt with a sweatshirt over it, I have to take the sweatshirt off. If it's 20 degrees in the bathroom and I'm wearing a jacket, I'll have to freeze because the coat is comin' off...

4. I can't have any necklaces, bracelet or big earrings on while I'm using the bathroom. Often when I use the bathroom at work, I'll take off my lanyard and forget to put it back on. I've found it hidden in a menagerie of places due to co-workers who are amused by my habits, from this great toilet paper cabinet we have to the actual toilet tank. Thanks guys!

5. I always have to use the first stall that's closest to the door. I read somewhere once that it's the cleanest because people always head for the stall that's farthest away.

6. I'm always scared that someone is going to try to open the door so I have to have the toes of one of my shoes sticking out of the door. This is the same thing that I do when I'm in a fitting room. I'll put on shoe half-way under the door so that outsiders will know that it's being used.

7. If there's a fan in the bathroom, I always have to use it, even if I'm just washing my hands. I feel like there's someone outside the door listening to my actions. I mainly use the fan at work because when you pee, everyone can hear it. The fan definitely helps cover up some of the noise.

8. I have a system that I always use to wash my hands. I have to soap them up for at least 30 seconds and clean under my nails. I wash my hands like I'm headed into surgery.

9. When I leave the bathroom, I can NEVER touch the door handle with my hands. I usually can manuver it open with my elbow.

10. If I'm at the sink with someone and we're washing our hands together, I always have to initiate some type of conversation. For some reason, going to the bathroom is such a strange experience to share with others.

So, am I the only crazy one here or does anyone else have public restroom issues? If so, please share....

1% Campaign

As a "Vagina Warrior", it's my duty to inform you of a new campaign that Eve Ensler has launched to draw attention to the possibility of a world without violence against females. According to the V-Day website, she is encouraging our leaders to allocate 1% of our nation's defense budget, approximately 4 billion dollars, toward the safety and security of women and girls. This money would be used to fund domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and hotlines that are essential to the survival to thousands of women and girls every day. This campaign can be considered to be a "peace-keeping" effort right here at home, as it's estimated that one in three women in the U.S. will fall victim to rape, incest, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, or domestic violence in their lifetime. It seems a bit imbalanced that the military is spending billions of dollars to "protect" us while thousands of women are fighting in their own "wars" daily, often in their own homes. Unforunately, this "war" won't be viewed as a national concern until leaders put it at the top of their "to-do" lists. This won't happen unless socity demands that it does so. If we make this demand over and over again, the 1% Campaign will work, eventually leading to a movement that will change the world.

If you want more information about the 1% Campaign, please click here. In the meantime, consider the following statistics from the Family Violence Prevention Fund and RAINN:

• Nearly 31% of women report being sexually or physically abused by a boyfriend at some point in their lives.
• Thirty percent of Americans say they know of a woman who has been sexually or physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year.
• In the year 2001, more than half a million American women (588.490 women) were victims of nonfatal violence commited by an intimate partner.
• Women are less likely to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner.
• As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy.
• Between 1993 and 1995, 18 of 32 states reported an increase in domestic violence filings of 20% or more.
• On average, more than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends each day in the U.S.
• The health-costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homocide committed by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year.
• One in five high school students report being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.
• Forty percent of girls age 14-17 know someone their age who has been hit by a boyfriend.
• In a national survey of 6,000 American families, 50% of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also abused their children.
• More than half of female victims of domestic violence live in households with children under the age of 12.
• Studies suggest that between 3.3-10 million children witness some type of domestic violence annually.
• One in five women reported that they have been raped or sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime.
• In 2003, there were an average of 223,280 victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
• Every two and a half minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.
• About 44% of rape victims are under the age of 18, three out of every 20 victims is under the age of 12.
• Ninety-three percent of juvenile sexual assault victims knew their attacker.
• About four out of ten sexual assaults take place at the victim's own home.

Funky Cold Adema

* Warning, the below post contains a graphic pic of a nasty eye...

(Just a note from the previous post...I immediately went to the itunes store and purchased "Beverly Hills" by Weezer...consider my gator fed.)

Soooo...Becky and I rolled into town a little after 2 a.m. Upon returning home, I collapsed on a different bed than I usually sleep in, allowing my Toy Pomeranian, Shelby, to join me in slumber. When I woke up the next morning, I found that I was unable to open my left eye. It was burning and a bit matted. Immediately I knew that I had pink eye. Being the great girlfriend that I am, I also immediately thought of everything I had touched in V's house and how crazy he would be cleaning his place to rid it of my cooties. When I looked in the bathroom mirror, I noticed something that I had never seen before. It was one of those things that if you saw it on your mom or your best friend, you would actually back away from them, unconcerned as to if you were offending them or not. It really was as sexy as the following description is about to sound. I had an actual sac of fluid, resembling a bubble blister, hanging out of the corner of my eye. It was actually attached to my eyeball. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Automatically I was thinking about the eyeball transplant that I was going to have to get and hoping that the new eyeball would match the other. I considered my eyes to be one of my best assets.

Because I had nothing better to do on a Sunday morning and there was no place I'd rather be than the ER, I headed in that direction. After quite a long wait, I was finally examined. The swelling and "nasty sac" had gone down a bit, but I was still anxious to learn more about this freakish condition. The doctor did a lot of poking and prodding. At one point, he put a special drop in my eye, after much struggling with my reflexes that tend to try to defend themselves against whatever is close enough to invade my pupils. He then used a special black light to check my corneas for damage. Nada. Doc told me that I would cry yellow tears for a few days as a result of the drops and that my eyes would glow in black lights. I got excited when I thought back about the black light bulb that I had just bought for V a few weeks prior.

After several more hours, it was determined that due to the large amounts of smoke that I was surrounded by the night before mixed with the hair of my dog, whom I usually don't sleep with, I just had a simple eye infection that was triggered by allergies. If you want to get technical, I was diagnosed with chemosis, an adema of the conjunctivi. The simple cure was anti-bacterial eye drops and applications of a wet compress. As of today, Tuesday, I am as good as cured.

This isn't a picture of my eye, but is exactly what it looked like...ewwww.....!

Friday and Saturday...Pre-Ick...

I hope everyone had a great weekend, sorry it's taken me three days to actually post about mine. Usually I don't have very exciting weekends. They mainly just consist of V and I kicking back and catching up since we don't see each other during the week, things were a bit different this weekend however.

I did get together with V on Friday night for an experiment of sorts. My friend Tara had mentioned a pizza that she had ordered a few weeks prior and I couldn't get my mind off of it. Apparently, my favorite pizzeria in town had a well-kept secret. They had a Bianco sauce that I was unaware of. V and I decided to try it out and rent "The Pacifier" , also known as the worst movie ever. The pizza could've also been placed in that category. I've had much better and, as usual, the hype wasn't anything compared to the real thing.

I hadn't gone out with Becky for a while due to the boyfriend/work/general busy-ness of my life so when the opportunity arose to head to Soy City to see a familiar band, we thought we'd take it. Intrynsik had taken a brief hiatus to find a new guitar player and, for one of the members, to find a wife. Heh. They played at Lock, Stock, and Barrel. Being that it was the weekend of the Celebration, we were fairly certain that the place would be packed and it was. However, before we actually had to yell at each other to be heard, the inappropriate comments made by the band's sound guy regarding my breasts and his plans for them were perfectly audible. Eventually the place filled up, we drank up, and found ourselves dancing on chairs for the remainder of the evening, not so much as to be risky, but to see over the crowd. (Sorry again Courtney for chasing you away and giving you a scare...) The band was awesome, playing all of the great covers that we were akin to and adding some of their newest material in their set as well. It left us anxiously awaiting the new CD, more gigs, and left Weezer's "Beverly Hills" in my head for the remainder of the weekend.

(Becky's tribute to an ex-boyfriend & Todd being honest...note how well their shirts go together...)

(Me dancing and playing the Nuggets, a housesitting gift from Beck...yes, that is my gut hanging out of my shirt...I apologize)

(Me and Becks...Woo-Hoo!)

(I refuse to leave one stranger un-danced upon!)

Things That I Think You Should Know...

1) I'm going to Farm Aid this year...and I couldn't be more excited...unless the Barenaked Ladies were going to be there too...

2) Dar Williams is going to be in St. Louis next April...and I'm going to be there too...couldn't be better...unless, of course, the Barenaked Ladies were going to be there too.

3) I've started a blog for the Ursuline Academy class of 1995. If you're familar with the class, myself, or UA, feel free to check it out.

4) My friend Derrick, who lives in D.C., is not only one cool mo-fo, but the rockinest female impersonator ever...and he has a blog.

5) My friend Daniel, who lives in NYC, also has a great site where you can download a new podcast full of great music every week.

6) The movie version of "Rent" is going to be released in November...check out the trailer and read news about the film here.

7) I believe that this is the coolest cake ever...and I will make it...someday.

8) As of today, I only have to work 3 days for the next two weeks...Hoorah for vacation! On August 20, I will be celebrating my four year anniversary at my current job. Go me!!

Me and V

Well, I guess it gets to that point in every relationship where a crucial decision has to be made. Are V and I finally there? I realized it this weekend when we attended a wedding for two of his co-workers that got hitched. Just as the Spartans need their perfect cheer, V and I need the perfect song. I'm not quite sure what the purpose of having a song is, but I chuckled as I watched the bride and groom dancing to "Love of a Lifetime" by Firehouse. I think that songs are usually selected based on the song that is playing during a significant point in a relationship. Maybe it was the song that was playing when he dropped you off after your first date or maybe the song that was playing when you shared your first kiss or maybe the song that was playing when you told each other that you loved the other for the first time. Blech! I want the cheeziest, lamest, most fun song that can be thought of. V and I really aren't ones for sentimentality.

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