If you like music and hate Bush

I thought I would mention a new CD made for MoveOn.org called Future Soundtrack for America. It is a compilation of many artists with lots of new material. If you donate $25 or more to MoveOn.org, you get the cd before it is released to record stores. Some of the bands included that I am interested in are:

• They Might Be Giants
• REM
• David Byrne

There are plenty of other bands too, so check it out.

I will also take this time to let you know that TMBG are offering recordings of all their live shows from the current tour for download through their online music store at
http://www.theymightbegiants.com They are charging $10 for the full concert in an almost unedited format. I'm thinking I'll have to get the First Avenue show, since I didn't get to go.

Later,
- Jeff

Our natural instinct to hate...

Chad, Phil, and I had a discussion today over lunch about a person's natural hatred towards "the other guy". We decided this takes two forms:

1. No matter what, we will hate our girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. It can't be helped. It has nothing to do with the type of guy he was. All that matters now, is that he is "The Ex," and that is basically equivalent to "The Devil himself."
2. Even worse than our girlfriend's ex-boyfriend is the next guy our ex-girlfriend dates. It is a known fact that despite never really meeting him, he has every dispicable quality known to man, if you can even call the scum a man.

Now what I find interesting about this, is that there is the possibility that in another life, either of the two guy types could have been your friend, potentially. But this means nothing in the current state of things. Another interesting thing is that most of the time, we refuse to use the other guy's real name. Instead we will use some derogatory term, or in the very least, just call him "The Ex" or "The New Boyfriend" (usually when you are trying not to offend the girl). Of course I believe this boils down to being a defense mechanism for our self esteem, but I still think it is interesting and slightly humourous.

Anyways, just thought I'd share these thoughts. I'm assuming women do the same thing. Let me know your thoughts on this.

Until next time.
- Jeff

Farewell, Phillip A Jirsa, we will miss you

My coworker (and roommate) has taken a job in the IT department at WSU. Friday was his last official day in the office. It was a day of mourning. As a send off, Phil and I went out to the bars on Thursday with our friend Christine. It was a pretty good time. I was wise enough to limit my alcohol intake, so I felt perfectly fine the next day. I think that is the first time that I didn't feel like shit after going out on Thursday... Damn you Bullseye and your 3$ all you can drink Thirsty Thursdays.
I ran into another friend of mine, Jen (of French Is fame), at the bars and we decided we should go do some karaoke sometime. For some reason, I have this urge to do karaoke, but that will probably go away after I get booed off the stage. I also found out that Jen works in the new science building and has a master key, so I will be paying her a visit at work soon so we can explore the new building.
The good news about Phil leaving the office, is that his position is now open. If everything goes to plan, I will get his position. This is good news for me because it means I will get benefits and an increase in pay. I have to hand in my resume next week, so I'll keep you posted.

To you, my special blog friends...

Angela

Here is my other niece Angela. Again, the picture was taken on Memorial Day 2004. Angela is just over 3 yrs old in the picture. She is usually a very good big sister to Alissa.

Alissa

This is my niece Alissa. The picture was taken on Memorial Day 2004. She is just over 1 year old in the picture. Who knew giving me a whiffle golf ball could be so much fun.

I want your comments

I just wanted to remind everyone that you can and should comment on any of my posts. I like reading them, and they give you an opportunity to tell me how you really feel anonymously (if you wish to stay anonymous). For example, you could make a comment like "After the post on Frou Frou, I must admit I'm beginning to question your sexuality. - I {Heart} Korn" and I would never know who wrote it. Now you try it. I'll give you some topics... Tell me what you thought of Fahrenheit 9/11. Tell me how much you love TMBG. Tell me what you thought of "Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About". Give me suggestions for other movies or bands I might like. Anything. Now go, ye, and comment.

I must make a special post...

for two of my favorite things have become one!!! I am talking, of course, about the new music video created by the homestarrunner.com folk for the new They Might Be Giants song Experimental Film!!! Check it out HERE!!! Also, TMBG have a new rock album, so check that out too!!!
Note: You can tell I'm excited about this by my abundant use of exclamation marks!!!

And since I'm already posting, I'll add that I have recently discovered a new band that I really like (and I get much crap about) called Frou Frou (The name is French and I believe it is pronounced like Froo Froo, although I think the band is British). They remind me of Dido meets Bjork meets [some sorta dance band]. Anyways, I think the girl has an amazing voice. If you are a girl that likes Dido, or just a girly-man that likes Dido (like me), you should listen to Frou Frou.

Finally...
I just got done watching the movie He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. It is a French movie (it is subtitled) that stars Audrey Tautou (the girl from Amelie (also subtitled), one of my favorite movies, so drop what you are doing and go watch it right now if you haven't seen it already). It was quite good. I recommend it to everyone. I hate it when people give away details to me before I see a movie, so I'll leave it at that.

- Jeff

Hello all

I figured I should check in and let y'all know what's up. Well, I'm still suffering from a cold or something that I got last week and my throat hurts like the dickens (just looked up the definition of dickens, partly because I had never had to spell it before so I wanted to make sure it was correct, and partly because I was curious what the actual definition was... apparently it was derived from the word devil). Anyways, on Saturday I went to Dan and Kim's bonfire party. Matt, Chad, and Rachel were the only friends of mine that went, but it was still pretty fun. I ended up camping there that night, along with Dan and Kim. It rained pretty hard on us Sunday morning. I just bought a new computer game called Joint Operations this weekend. I've been playing it online. It is pretty fun, you know, killing people and all. This afternoon, Phil and I went to King Arthur. I had heard that it wasn't very good, but I liked it. Then again, I like just about any movie about kings and such. Well, I am going to go play my new game now (insert nerd comment here). Later - Jeff

Happy belated 4th of July

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. Mine was pretty good. I saw Fahrenheit 9/11. It was excellent and I recommend everyone watches it. And if any of you are Pro-Bush, I would love to hear your take on it. Most of my friends are liberal Bush haters (myself included). I also saw Spider-Man 2. I thought it was good. I'd say it was better than the first. On the 4th, my family had a gathering at my sister's house. We played bocce ball and tennis. It was a good time. Last night, I hung out with Matt and Steve. We walked down to this hidden little beach on the river. We trespassed a couple times and had to jump over a fence, drank some brewdogs, built a fire, took a dip in the river in the nude, I fell in the fire, Matt broke both of his sandles, I think I bruised the bottom of my foot, I puked (not in that order)... So it was a good time. I spent all of today recovering. Well, that is it for now. - Jeff