bleh

Today was rather 'interesting'.
As has been the case for the past few weeks, I had to wake up at 6:00 to be ready for my 7:00 crew practice. We started out with our normal 'flag run', which consists of running from the boathouse, to Jack London Square, and back; a 2.5 mile trip. And uh, let me inform those of you who don't know this: When you weigh a few pounds shy of 200, it's not fun to run long distances. I can sprint really well, but anything over a half mile and I start hating it. I'm by no means bad - I usually place in the top 6 out of 22 guys, but that doesn't mean that I like it.

So after our run we started getting the boats out. The rowers always have to follow instructions from the cockswain (pronounced cox'n), and we're not supposed to talk back, or suggest another way of doing something. We took the boats out, and were just about to put them on the water, when our coach came up and said, 'alright, bring both boats back into the house, and the launch also'. Carrying the boats is no easy task, and we had been eargerly awaiting the moment when we could dump it onto the water, but after realizing we would have to walk up the boat ramp, and all the way back to the boathouse, we all inwardly sighed, and questioned what we had done wrong.

After putting the boats back in, and replacing the launch on its trailer, we lined up by the door of the boathouse. Coach was mad because 'You can't go out on the water withour oars. You should always get the oars out before the boat'. A few of us started to grumble about how the cockswains should have told us to do that, and that it wasn't our fault. Ignoring our legitimate complaints, were we told 'So, now were're going to run over to Lake Merrit and run some stairs".

Lake Merrit has a three and a half mile circumference. More if you don't run through fairy land (that little pack area), which we didn't. I think I already mentioned how much I hate running. Oh, and I seemed to have forgotten to mention that the Lake is about a mile away from the boathouse.

In the end, I just had to do one lap around the lake, since I had work and needed to leave early. Everyone else stopped half way around and ran stairs. The stairs were about as tall as your college football stadium. They had to do 40 circuts. I'm not going to comment on how ridiculous that is.

Yea.... so that was my pre-9:00 morning.
From crew I went to work. I work a few hours a week as a gymnastics coach. Saturday mornings I work from 9:00 till 11:20. Classes went well. I came back after lunch, at around 1:00, to work a birthday party. It was very fun. Getting paid +$5/hr on top of your regular wage to entertain kids by doing gainers into a foam pit is a pretty cushy job if you ask me. I'd much rather be doing something with my body than standing behind a counter all day.

So the point of this is: I'm quitting crew. I didn't sign up for cross country, and I hate our coach, the inept kids on the team (about 4/5ths), and rowing in general. Now I'll have much more time to achieve my personal goals, and catch back up with schoolwork. I don't have to be worrying all day now about how I have to leave at three, and finish up all my schoolwork before that.
Yes crew is a great opportunity to get a scholarship to an ivy league school, but I asked myself the other day: "do I want to be rowing five timesa week while I'm in college?". The answer is no. There's nothing to love about the sport. It really doesn't take much talent, and the kids that do it are the ones that can't make it in any other sport. That or their parents want them to spend less time at chess club.

[/rant]

thanks for hearing me out

300

So, I just got back from 'Six Flags Marine World'. Good times. It's nice to have a few days every once in a while where you aren't worrying about school, or work, or sports. Of course now I've lost lots of time that I could have spent catching up on my two labs that are due next week, or studying for my Calculus II exam, or doing latin reading... But I guess you just have to let things go every once in a while. It'll definitely make next week more interesting.

Just a few links tonight, but these are really good ones.


Classic - Bas Rutten Self Defence Video
This is hilarious. There are so many great moments in this. I remember when I watched it for the first time, I was laughing non-stop. So before you watch it, here's a bit of background: Rutten, also known as 'El Guapo', is a retired MMA fighter, and i now a commentator for various MMA events. Anddd... that's all you really need to know. Just watch the video. *dies*
"And I, Can DEliver - BANG! Headbutoutofnowhere!!"
"Going to bounce his head on the table ten times or something"


And now a much better movie, I promise.


300


The graphic novel was amazing, and it looks like the movie will be even better.

random assorted links

There's a little bit of a mario theme with this small batch of links, but not enough to warrant a full post


Worth 100 real life video games photoshop contest


Super Mario Bros. 'Minus Worlds' - pretty neat


Super Mario Bros. 3 World 1-1 played in Legos



And lastly, here's Zack Kim playing everyone's favorite theme

Strange Dancing

Little Superstar' - You've been warned... this video is creepy

You've seen it many times before but have you ever seen a bird perform it?

Bboy junior... - I used to be a competitive hip hop dancer. Guys like junior really contrast how much I sucked. I remember thinking front handsprings were so awesome to do in competitions. Haha Junior pwns that

And lastly, check out this gif that I've been saving for just such an occasion
heheh

Neave.tv

Neave is a neat little app that acts as a television of sorts. It takes videos from Google, Youtube, and Blip.tv and allows you to flip through them as you would with channels on a normal TV.

Be sure to check out
Drink Moving - cool music video, with tetris blocks!
and
Fragmentary View

Weird + Poll

So I just did this for the first time ever, and I'll reccomend that you do the same. Give the archives a good ruffling through if you haven't been here since I started this thing. I'm sure you'll find some neat stuff.


In case you think I'd make a whole post plugging the archives, you're mistaken. I also wanted to ask you guys about what types of content you like the best. I know right now I'm posting predominately video links, but what types of stuff would you like to see more of?

Print media - articles, stories, picture compilations, comics, etc

Reviews + Reccomendations - links to neat software, tips on haxing your GUI, tips to optimize system performance as well as looks, etc

Personal entries - More about me, what's going on, people in my life, pictures I've taken, rants, etc

Any other things you think recieve inadequate coverage - Clowns, the tilde key, etc

And as always, leave more comments and reccomend me to all your aquaintances. Your comments keep me motivated, and power this blog.
thanks
Austin

Oldies

I went through my bookmarks last night and found quite a few old links that are pretty neat. You might have seen a few of these already, but bear with me


Ascii Matrix - this is at least a year old, which in internet time, is ancient.

Google Haxzor - 1337 534rc|-|

How to survive a drop from an airplane - (try this at home!)

Hyspace, Hyrule's online social networking site

40 things that only happen in movies - this is awesome

Insultingly stupid movie physics - a great read

And lastly, this classic forum picture