This movie was marketed as a romantic comedy. After seeing it with Stefy last night, we found out pretty quickly that it's anything but. Talk about a downer! Infidelity, divorce, screaming babies... not exactly a laugh riot.

Of course, if you like Zach Braff, you'll probably like it. Then again, even if you hate Zach Braff, you still might enjoy yourself because you see him getting smacked around a few times.

On the whole though, this thing was a mixed bag, at best. I'm glad I saw it, but being honest, I would have to tell people to save their money.

I just started offering ad space on the sidebar of my political blog, Pohlitics, last week, and yesterday I got a notification that I sold my first ad! It's for Tony Trupiano, who's running for congress in the 11th district, so I'm pretty excited. I know it's small fry, but ten bucks is ten bucks.

Gotta pay them billz.

A week from tomorrow Stef and I will be taking off for Las Vegas with her folks. Next Friday is her 21st birthday and we're staying at Bellagio, per her request, so I'm getting really excited for the trip. Not sure how much gambling I'll do while we're out there, but at the very least it'll be nice to escape this fall weather we've been having.

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

It's that time of year... the new fall TV season. There are lots of "new" shows on the networks, but I could honestly care less about most of them. The other night when I was watching TV and saw another promo for one of these new series, it just got me thinking about all the other shows that are already on the air that I could really give a rip about. Anyway, here's my list of the top five shows I could care less about:

1. Two and a Half Men (is this really still on?)
2. Desperate Housewives (the most overrated program ever)
3. Ghost Whisperer (Jennifer Love Hewitt sees ghosts. WTF?)
4. Dancing With the Stars (America, please get a life)
5. The Office (it's like trying to watch a remake of Seinfeld)

What are some of the shows you could care less about?

Well, I've been trying to download the new John Mayer album from iTunes for about a week now, but for some ridiculous reason Apple has told me they can't process any orders with my credit card until October 7th or 8th (some glitch in their billing system). They gave me five free songs to make up for the problem so I guess that's better than nothing, but I still don't have the new CD and probably won't be able to download it for a few more weeks.

Anyway, here are a couple live clips of songs from John's first album. The first video is from Carson Daly's show on NBC, and is John playing "Neon." The second clip was actually recorded by a fan at a Tower Records way back in 2001, and features John playing "Great Indoors." Enjoy!

This week is going to be just a tad less hectic than last week was, and I'm really happy about that. Tonight after work I'm getting a haircut for the first time in well over a month, then I'm driving out to my dad's to meet up with Stef for dinner with the fam. Tomorrow I'll be heading into G4G HQ again for more volunteer action, and then Thursday is the big screening of BELIEVE at NCG by Eastwood.

For those who don't know what this movie is, it's basically a mockumentary made by a Utah-based filmmaker that skewers multi-level marketing firms like AMWAY. I've been following it over on Pohlitics for almost two months now, and you can check out some of my entries about it here (my initial post) and here (an interview I did with the Director, Loki Mulholland). The thing at NCG on Thursday is kind of a sneak-peek for local media, politicians, and other interested parties to help whip up buzz for the movie's wider release throughout the state in mid-October. Needless to say, I think a lot of us lefty bloggers are pretty geeked about this one, considering the all-too-convenient tie-in with the gubernatorial election.

Anyway, that's Thursday. Friday is a bit up in the air at the moment since one of Stef's good friends is throwing herself a 22nd birthday party at some bar/club in town, but Stefy still hasn't turned 21 yet. We're just not sure if she'll be able to get in or not. Saturday I'll be babysitting the girls at my dad's house while he and Sherry run off to the Eric Clapton concert. I'll probably be flying solo that night since Stef will be at the MSU-Notre Dame football game on campus cheering on the Spartans. All I gotta say is that Morgan and Kyra better not complain about me wanting to watch the game, otherwise big bro-bro will have to lay down the law and institute an early bedtime (mwah ha haaaa).

So yeah, that's it for this week. It doesn't look like I'll have to leave town at all for the first time in forever, so that'll be nice. There's just enough to keep me busy, but not too much to make me go nuts.

Zoo TV is often considered to be the best U2 tour of all-time, and one of the shows from the Sydney leg of the tour is finally coming out on DVD today!

For those who don't know, ZOO TV was the tour that promoted the Achtung Baby album from 1992-93. This was basically U2 at the top of their game, and for an obsessive fan like me, this DVD release is a long time coming. I can't wait to go buy this thing!

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG. READ MORE iBZP.

Well, after my little New Radicals flashback yesterday, it's kinda funny that I would actually find a live track of the group on YouTube. I mean, part of the reason Gregg Alexander disbanded the group after releasing just two singles from "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" was because he hated touring and didn't want to promote the album anymore. Anyway, I'm just glad I was able to unearth this clip of New Radicals doing "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" on Live@MuchMusic. This song is one of my favs, so enjoy!

Time Magazine sits down for a ten question Q&A with U2's the Edge this week. It's definitely worth reading the whole thing, but this passage was probably my favorite:

Q: Let's get abstract for a moment. If you could attach your name to any song written over the past few years, which would it be?

A: Interesting. There's quite a few songs I've been jealous of. Certainly Wonderwall by Oasis. Oh. Easy. The New Radicals' You Get What You Give. That's a great tune. I really would love to have written that. Great spirit, great energy.

I can't believe that the Edge even remembers who New Radicals were, let alone could name a song of theirs, let alone would want to have his name attached to it!

For those who don't know, the New Radicals released the greatest (IMHO) one-hit-wonder album of the last twenty years way back in 1998. "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" is honestly one of my all-time favorite CDs. If you don't own it, go buy it right now.

Well, my new TiVo box is up and running, and the first thing I did was sign up for some season passes to record my favorite shows (especially ones I never get to see). Part of what's cool about Tivo is that it lets you record shows and keep a certain number of episodes around just so you can watch them whenever you want (which is great for talk shows). While Stef added a few choices of her own, here are the top five shows I TiVoed so far:

1. The Daily Show (Bubba Clinton is on tonight!)
2. The Colbert Report (for my daily dose of truthiness)
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation (Space, the final frontier...)
4. Seinfeld (only the best show ever; gotta have a few around)
5. Conan O'Brien (because I haven't been up past 12:30 in a year)

What TV shows (especially ones you never get to see) would you record, if you could? Drop a note in the comments...

I guess my week-long birthday bonanza is finally over. Sigh. It can only get dragged out for so long, I suppose.

Friday night was a lot of fun. I drove down to Stef's house after work to go to the Tiger's baseball game to celebrate his birthday. We drove to the park with Stef's grandma while Justin and Mara followed behind us, and we all met up with Sean, Marina and the kids at the restaurant that overlooks the stadium about a half hour before the game started. The buffet dinner was really nice, but my favorite part was the dessert spread. They had these chocolate-dipped cannolis out that were just out of this world. I seriously could've just made a meal out of those things. Mmmm.

The game itself was a lot of fun, but it was a total blowout. I think it was the third or fourth inning where the Tigers had two outs, but suddenly went on this scoring rampage where they racked up something ridiculous like 7 or 8 runs in a row. The game was pretty much over at that point, but it was cool that we had such a fun (and much-needed) win on the day we were there to celebrate Tim's birthday.

Saturday morning I pretty much had to get up, shower, and hit the road for home. Stef needed to run along to her hair appointment, and I wanted to get back to Lansing so I could take off for Homer with my mom and Dan for our visit to my A. Elaine's house on the way to John Templeton's 50th birthday party. Of course, I just assumed that the traffic would be a breeze on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but that sure as hell wasn't the case. I hit a wall of traffic on I-96 where it crosses US 23 because the morons at MDOT decided to schedule some construction work on a whopping 100' stretch of road, narrowing the freeway down to a single lane, on the same day that Michigan was playing Notre Dame right where two major highways cross. That was a great idea. It seriously added 45 minutes to my drive. Needless to say, I was none too pleased when I encountered something similar near Lansing about 40 minutes later. All told, the drive that usually takes a hour and fifteen minutes took two hours and forty five minutes. Zack... ANGRY!

Anyway, even though I was monumentally pissed, I made it back home in one piece, and was glad to finally see my mom and Dan. We took a few minutes to open by b-day presents before hitting the road (again), so that helped cheer me up. I got the entire series of Michael Moore's TV show "The Awful Truth" on DVD, a gift card to the Gap, and a subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. After all the DVDs I got this year, I basically had to add another shelf to my movie rack when I went back to organize everything.

We pretty much hit the road after I opened my gifts, and made it to my A. Elaine's by about 2:30 or so. It was nice that my mom and Dan got a chance to see her house for the first time in probably 8-10 years, because neither of them had seen all the renovations that Elaine and Bob have done on the place. We had a nice time visiting, and took a short ride around Homer lake on the pontoon boat before taking off for John's party at 4.

Old Man Templeton lives just a few miles from my A. Elaine's house, so it was just a short jaunt over to his farm for the big 50th birthday bash. It was really nice getting a chance to see him and his wife Melissa for a little while, but the party was really huge, and it almost felt like we were at a graduation party, because the only time we really got to talk with either of them was when we first arrived and when we left (not complaining... that's just how parties like that tend to go). Anyway, Dan was excited to give my mom and I a tour of all of John's farm implements and show off a little, so that helped pass the time. After we ate dessert we pretty much decided to hit the road and get back to Lansing before it got too late.

Sunday morning I got up and went to the 11:30 mass with mom and Dan, and then we went to Flap Jack to meet Stefy and Brian for my birthday brunch (which officially marked the end of my b-day week). I scarfed down some pumpkin pancakes, which were delish, and it was nice getting a chance to sit and yack with Brian and my folks before they had to take off for Ohio. After breakfast, Stef and I ran some errands to get stuff for our TVs. Stefy brought her old white TV to school to put in her room, so we needed a new remote and some coax cable from Best Buy to set her up. Once we had that taken care of, we went out to Eastwood so I could spend some of my birthday gift cards. I ended up buying a couple sweaters at JCrew, and if the weather keeps getting cooler and cooler, I could be wearing them a lot sooner than I'd like.

Other than that, Stef and I just spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and watching TV. After all the running around I did on Friday and Saturday, it was nice to just take some time and be lazy for a while.

Check out the new pictures from this weekend!

Well, today is Mr. Spiro's birthday, so I'm driving to Stef's house after I have lunch with my dad this afternoon to go to the Tiger's game with the fam. I won't say what I got for his present yet, but I will say that it involves Ronald Reagan... seriously.

Anyway, the Tiger's game should be a lot of fun. The Southers family will be joining us at Comerica, so it'll be nice to see the kids and hear about Colin's first few weeks of school.

Tomorrow morning I'm driving right back to Lansing because my mom and Dan will be in town by then (they're arriving tonight, in fact). There's a birthday party for an old family friend (well, friend to some of my family, that is), John Templeton, in the afternoon tomorrow, so I'm tagging along with my mom and Dan. I guess my Aunt Elaine actually lives pretty close to John's house, so we're going to stop by her place to visit for a while on the way to the party. My graduation party in May was the last time I saw A. Elaine, so it'll be nice to catch up with her and Bob for a while.

Sunday morning I'm going to church with my folks, and then we're going to meet up with Stef and Brian for a nice brunch at Flap Jack Shack to celebrate my birthday. I know, I know... I'm milking it for all it's worth.

So yeah, that's about it for this weekend. It'll be busy, but I'll also get to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time, so I'm excited.

Have a good one!

These bad boys are officially my new favorite fruit. They're just as tasty as oranges, but a hell of a lot easier to peel. I could seriously eat a whole damn crate of these things.

Sorry, but I just had to post this. A little birdy sent me the link to the new EPIC-MRA poll numbers last night, and it pretty much made my day. I would've posted the figures sooner, but I didn't get back from volunteering until after 7PM yesterday and then had to spend the rest of the evening cleaning my apartment -- my parents are coming to stay with me for the weekend, so I had to make sure everything was all neat and tidy.

Anyway, here are the poll numbers:

MI-Gov: Granholm 50, DeVos 42 (last month 49-42)
MI-Sen: Stabenow 53, Bouchard 34 (last month 51-38)

Keep up the good work, ladies!

Cross-posted on Pohlitics

My political website, Pohlitics.com, hit the jackpot yesterday. One of the YouTube videos I put on my site on Tuesday somehow got sent to the mighty Markos and caught his attention. Not only did he post the video on the front page of DailyKos.com, but a link to my site as well!

Kos gets over 600,000 visitors every day, so in the window of a couple hours my site traffic went through the roof. Oh, and if that wasn't enough good news, Gov. Granholm gave me a plug yesterday in her live diary chat on Kos when she thanked all the Michigan bloggers (she mentioned me by name). Of course, I'm not planning to let any of this go to my head, but I just wanted to say...

KNEEL BEFORE ZACK!



Seriously, if you haven't bookmarked Pohlitics yet, you don't know what you're missing.

Michigan, I hate having to write these letters, but seriously... wtf? This weather is beyond lame. I mean, before you know it, we'll be ankle deep in October, all the leaves will be falling, we'll be hauling out the heavy jackets, and fall will really be upon us. Can we please savor a few more days of nice weather before the fall/winter misery sets in? Pretty please? Thanks.

Sincerely,
Zack

From U2.com via @U2:

Tuesday, September 5th
London, Abbey Road Studios: birthplace to most of the Beatles records, and countless other classic albums from Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ to Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’.

Larry and Edge have flown in from Dublin, Bono from France and Adam, already in the city, has taken the short drive across town. Waiting in the control room is the instantly recognisable figure of Mr Rick Rubin, a producer whose musical pedigree stretches from Justin Timberlake to The Mars Volta, from Johnny Cash to Metallica. Rubin met up with the band earlier in the summer down in France and word is that some of what was written and demoed then will be recorded properly in the coming days.

Wednesday, September 6th 06
Back in the studio this afternoon, a late kick-off but now working on a new U2 track. Taping, as we used to call it, is briefly interrupted when Paul McCartney and Beatles producer George Martin drop by. U2 and McCartney were last in a London studio together in the summer of 2005, rehearsing ‘Sergeant Pepper’. Then playing Live 8 to a billion people next day. Bit of a moment to see Macca sliding down the bannister of the stairway from the control room to the studio floor. This place is like his second home. Then U2 got back to making music… and on into the night.

Thursday, September 7th 06
U2 were again at work by early afternoon, this time on a track that sounds like a U2 classic with an instant hook and a mesmerising chorus.

‘Bono had demoed it in Dublin,’ explains Larry. ‘Then brought it to the band and even in its most basic form you had the feeling that something special was going on.

‘It felt that maybe this time we were not going to be pushing a rock up a hill as we do a lot of the time with new material.’

Recording at Abbey Road. Paul McCartney and George Martin stopping by. Sounds like the jams are coming out naturally. I can't wait for the next album!

I thought this whole Tivo thing was supposed to be a breeze to setup. Well, apparently not. You basically can't do a damn thing with it until the machine can get online one way or another, and since the morons at CompUSA couldn't tell me which wireless routers would and wouldn't work with Tivo on Tuesday night, I was forced to wait for a whole day to go pick one up at Best Buy. Zack... ANGRY!

Once I got home yesterday to hook up the wireless USB adapter, I quickly found out that Tivo's little gizmo won't work with a wireless network that requires a WPA password. Sure it's not a big deal to change back to the old (less secure) WEP password format, but I spent enough time fiddling around with it last night that I eventually ran out of time before Project Runway came on. And since I didn't have anything like, oh... my TIVO working, I couldn't record it. Grrrr.

Anyway, I think everything is all squared away now, so hopefully I can get everything up and running tonight (crossing fingers).

Well, I had a really nice dinner at Outback with my family last night. Dad, Sherry, and the girls got me a whole bunch of stuff: Paul McCartney's first solo album, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life", Clue (the movie, not the game), and the Apple wireless keyboard. Our dinner was really yummy (as always), and it was really nice getting to spend the evening with the fam.

Of course, the good part about having the other half of my family live in Ohio is that it means I get to drag my birthday out through the end of the week. My mom and Dan will be in town this weekend, and I think we'll do my birthday celebrating on Saturday/Sunday. I really can't wait to see them... it feels like it's been forever!

Anyway, I had a really great birthday this year (so far), and just want to say thanks again to everyone who thought of me.

It's a short series, but check 'em out.

Well, I followed all the coverage of Apple's "big" Showtime event, and I have to say I was a little bummed. The most exciting "announcement" to me was the new organizing features in iTunes 7. Um, yay.

I mean, the whole movies thing is cool I guess, but until they come up with a way to 1) burn the videos to a DVD 2) release a real video iPod with a wide screen 3) release that iTV thingy they previewed, I won't be dropping a dime on any new Apple gadgets. The iTV thing looks cool, but aside from the instant gratification of downloadable movies, I don't really get the point. My TiVo will let me record all the TV shows I want, and I can just rip DVDs to put on a video iPod (should I ever buy one).

Look, I don't like to rag on my favorite multinational corporation very often, but I'm starting to get the feeling that Apple's R&D department is running on fumes. I mean, colored iPods? Ooooh. That's soooo... retro?

Come on, Apple! My mind is waiting to be blown!

This sure beats the hell outta flowers, if you ask me:



Does this girl spoil me, or what?

Thanks for the birthday surprise, my Stefy girl!

Hmm. Some good news and some blah news about my favorite band from the fan website, atU2.com:

U2 is working on material for its next studio album with producer Rick Rubin, according to the band's Web site. The group has been at work on the as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb since last month.

Suh-weet. I can't wait. But, ugh, what's this?

While in the studio, U2 will be joined by Green Day to record a cover of Scottish punk band the Skids' "The Saints Are Coming." Proceeds from the track will benefit Music Rising, an instrument replacement fund co-founded by U2 guitarist the Edge last summer in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Good cause (hey, I bought a $40 t-shirt to support it), but Green Day? Puh-lease. What's next, a U2 duet with Fall Out Boy? As John Stossel's mustache would say, give me a break!

Good thing there's one more tidbit of good news:

Meanwhile, a DVD chronicling U2's Zoo TV tour will arrive Sept. 19 via Island/UME.

I am so there. Everything you know is WRONG. Watch more TV iBZP.

The whole Mac web has their panties in a knot over Apple's big media event today. All the PR material from everyone's favorite fruit company has included the tag-line "It's Showtime!", leading people to speculate that full movies will be added to the iTMS, that iTunes itself will be re-branded as "Showtime", and that a new device will be released (allegedly named TubePort, which is an awful name IMHO) that will allow people to view movies on their home TV.

The whole movie thing makes sense to me, and actually seems like a pretty safe bet at this point, especially since Apple has temporarily shut down the iTMS and put up the following image:



Another report from a French magazine is that Apple will launch the long-hyped (and to this point, nonexistent) iPhone today. Here's the picture:



So, what tricks does Steve have up his mock turtle-neck sleeve today? Who knows? I guess we'll find out at 1PM EDT.

I just know that it's my birthday, and I have money burning a hole in my pocket. Make me happy, Steve.

It's still early morning, and some birthday thank-yous are already in order.

Thanks to everyone who sent me a card, has given me (or will give me) a gift, who wrote a note on my Facebook wall, took me out to dinner, or did anything else birthday-related. There are a lot of amazing people in my life, and I appreciate each and every one of you more than I could ever say.

Oh yeah, and props to Dr. Richardson at Holt Family Practice too. The guy hooked me up with a mad prescription for amoxicillin yesterday, and I'm already feeling a little better from my ten-day sickness. I can actually breathe again.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone at the office for the nice b-day card and the yummy cake this morning.

Also, I wanted to wish my cousin Jessi a happy 21st birthday too. I know we probably won't ever do a joint birthday party again, but I always think of her on our b-day.

Anyway, that's it for now. Have a good one!

My life is now complete... my wonderful/amazing/genius girlfriend bought me Tivo for my birthday!



Shazzzam! Thank you, Stefy!

Keepin' it real on my 22nd birfday wit fity...



(yeah, I couldn't find the Beatles or Stevie Wonder Birthday songs on YouTube)

Maybe I should go see a doctor. This is getting pathetic... every time I think I'm getting better I start hacking up a lung and my sinuses close up again. I'm basically running on fumes at this point. Hopefully this is the last time I get sick for about a year. I think I've paid my dues with this one.

I've seen some funny stuff about DeVos and AMWAY during this campaign, but this is probably the best one yet. Kudos to the person who came up with this one:



Cross-posted on Pohlitics.

I'm not going to post some long rememberence about the fifth anniversary of September 11 this morning. It's already being covered by every freakin' news outlet in the country today, and frankly I'm more than a little tired of the fetishization of this tragic holiday by our politicians.

Instead, I'm proposing that the true meaning of 9/11 be restored... as simply the day before my birthday. Believe me, no one looks forward to September 12 more than I do, and I know my throngs of admirers wait with baited breath to celebrate my birth each year, so from here on out I refuse to deny them an extra day of jubilation by sulking in the painful memories of 9/11/01. Nope, September 11 should be spent signing cards and wrapping my birthday gifts, not watching factually questionable made-for-TV movies about the terrorist attacks on ABC.

So, Happy September 11, the day before Zack's birthday!

(NOTE: today also happens to be my A. Julie and cousin Andrea's birthdays, so I suppose I should wish them a Happy Birthday as well. Then again, that might distract from the new meaning of 9/11.)

The concert last night was a lot of fun. Better Than Ezra was even more fun than I was expecting – those guys are so much fun! They did a couple cover songs, including the Rolling Stones' "Miss You", which was perfect for the lead singer's high pitched voice with all those "woo-hoo-hoo-a-hoo-a-hoo"s. Hootie was great, and they did a couple covers too, including REM's "Losing My Religion". I know that sounds like an odd one for them to do, but Darius did a great job of singing with a Michael Stipe-sorta voice. Anyway, the whole show was a blast, and I'm so glad I got a chance to see both bands.

Of course, the thing that sucked about the whole night was that I kept feeling sicker and sicker as the show went on. I felt really good for most of the day, but my cough came back with a vengeance, and I was hacking up a lung for most of the concert. On the way home Teri said we should stop by a grocery store to get a lemon and some honey so she could make this special concoction that's supposed to help with a cough. It was basically a mix of vodka, lemon juice and honey, and as odd as it sounds, it really helped soothe my throat. I really didn't cough at all while I was in bed for the rest of the night, so I guess that's good.

Considering how well I slept, I was expecting to feel even better this morning, but that wasn't the case. I'm more stuffy and sinusy than I've been in the last couple of days, even though I'm not coughing as much anymore. I'm going to make a point of scheduling an appointment with a doctor ASAP next week so I can figure out what the deal is and start getting better. This is getting ridiculous.

Anyway, it's a gloomy Saturday right now, and I'm just hanging out at Stef's house before heading off to Wendy and Rachid's for our office barbecue this evening. Stefy already took off for East Lansing to go to the MSU football game this afternoon, but the weather isn't looking too good. Hopefully they don't have to stand in the rain the whole time.

That's it for now. Have a good weekend (while I'm dying).

Well, I have to say that the staff retreat went really well. I think the best part was that this day and a half gave us a chance to talk through some of the interpersonal issues between staff members, and we all learned how to communicate better with each other. We didn't do any group hugs or sing kumbaya or anything, but it was just a really great experience, and I'm glad I had a chance to participate.

Now it's back to the grindstone... for a day.

Somebody shoot me. This is day six of me being ill, and I'm ready for it to be over. Here are the top five things I hate about being sick:

1. When you think you're done blowing your nose, are about to move on, and then realize you need another tissue
   
2. When you go on a coughing jag for a couple minutes and people start giving you dirty looks
   
3. Hacking stuff up every twenty minutes
   
4. Getting so hooked on your cold medicine(s) that you have to start upping your dosage
   
5. Drinking so much damn water that you need a bathroom break six times an hour

At the rate I'm going I'll be blowing brain matter through my nose on my birthday. That's always fun.

Tonight is the I Love the 90s show at Pine Knob, where we're seeing Hootie & The Blowfish and Better Than Ezra. Coincidentally the guys from the Gin Blossoms will be also be making an appearance this evening... behind the counter at the concession stand.

Anyway, to celebrate this 90s flashback, I'm sharing a couple Better Than Ezra videos this morning: "Good" and "Extraordinary". Wah-ow... enjoy!

The staff retreat is going really well so far. We got a lot done today, and I think we'll cover a lot of ground tomorrow. I've been sworn to secrecy, so I can't say too much about it, but I think this whole thing has been really good for everyone.

Anyway, have a good Thursday!

This is me right now. Afrin is the only thing keeping me alive. I'm about ready to rip my throat out of my neck from all the coughing I've been doing too. Someone put me out of my misery.

My room at Weber's in Ann Arbor is really cool.



The Trust Fund is riding in style, baby!

Okay, so I just checked iBZP on Micro$oft's Internet Explorer for the first time in several weeks (I know, I'm a shoddy webmaster). It looks like complete schlock. Every other browser I've checked? Looks great!

As usual, IE can't read a site with any sort of javascript or flash code in it, so that's why it looks like crap. For anyone out there who's still using IE to look at iBZP, I apologize.

Of course, this gives me an excuse to tell you again to download Mozilla's Firefox. I won't waste my breath explaining why IE sucks so much ass, but if you need to be told again, go check out this website.

In the meantime, GET FIREFOX!

It's been a while since I've done one of these -- mostly because I was simply running out of material -- but here we go again. Today's featured band is Hootie & The Blowfish, and the video is from their giganto-huge smash, "Only Wanna be With You."

Stefy and I are going to see his Hootisciousness with Better Than Ezra on Friday, so it'll be one big 90s music fest. Hopefully I'll unearth a clip of theirs to post by Friday morning. Until then, have fun mumbling along with Darius.

My staff retreat starts at 11 a.m. at Weber's in Ann Arbor today, and continues through 5 p.m. tomorrow. No clue what's in store, but it should be interesting to say the least.

Not sure when (or if) I'll be able to post again, but I hope everyone has a good hump day.

Hopefully it's nothing like this:

I'd like to say that things will be getting back to normal around here this week, but unfortunately that's just not the case. I stayed home from work today since I was sick, and tomorrow I'm leaving for Ann Arbor for a day-and-a-half staff retreat at Weber's Hotel.

Yep, the trusty MITF crew is assembling for some sort of hug-fest where we all sit around and sing kumbaya or something. We haven't done one of these in two years, and since we have a different facilitator this time around, I don't really know what to expect. As much as I like to joke about stuff like this, I actually think these retreats can be fun. I learned a lot about the way I work and how others in our offices like to get things done last time, so hopefully I'll get something out of this trip.

Anyway, I'll be back on Thursday evening, and will then be heading into yet another insanely busy weekend. I think next week will be a "normal" week, but frankly it's been so long since I had one, I don't remember what "normal" is anymore. Stay tuned.

Here are my pictures from Labor Day weekend, thanks to the beauty that is Flickr. Go have a look!

I have a hard time remembering what I ate for breakfast most days, so it's a bit of stretch to expect me to remember what I did over the last four days. Anyway, here goes...

The Henry Ford Museum
Stefy and I went to the Henry For Museum on Friday afternoon. It was my first time going there in at least twelve years or more, so while a few exhibits looked familiar to me, it was kind of cool getting to re-experience it for the first time again. There were a lot of really cool exhibits, including some memorabilia on loan from the baseball hall of fame, but my favorite display was the one that looked at life in the 20th century, decade-by-decade. They had a green screen set up where you could dance along with a video that was popular on MTV during the 80s, so Stefy and I jumped in there and danced along with tunes like Prince's "1999", Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime", and Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". It was kinda silly, but I had a really fun time with it.

The Pohl/Spiro Visit
My family and Stef's have met in person on more than one occasion, but Saturday was the first time they were really got to spend any length of time together where it was just them, with no one else around. My dad, Sherry, and the girls came out to the cottage on Bald Eagle Lake to spend the day with us, and while the weather didn't exactly cooperate -- we had clouds and some rain off and on for most of the afternoon -- I think everyone got along great and had a fun time together. Stef's mom went above and beyond with her hosting duties, per usual, with all sorts of yummy food and drinks for us to snack on throughout the day. I really can't thank Tim and Teri enough for offering my family such a warm welcome this weekend!

More Cottage Guests on Sunday
Saturday was definitely a busy day at the cottage since we had my family around, but Sunday was even more hectic. We had a pretty full house with Teri's friends Deb and Neil, her sister Dolly, and Sean, Marina, and the kids all coming over to spend the afternoon with us. Once again, Teri had this ridiculous spread of food/drinks out for us to nosh on all day, and once again I ate like a king. The weather was a bit nicer on Sunday, but it was still touch and go with the clouds there for a while. Other than that, it was just another nice, leisurely day at the lake with friends, family, and noodle salad.

The Sickness
I woke up with a sore throat on Saturday morning, but didn't really think anything of it. Lots of times I'll wake up with a sore throat, but will be feeling better once I have some breakfast and take my morning shower. Well, this wasn't the case on Saturday, since my achy throat stuck around all day long. On Sunday morning, Stef and I went to the drug store to get some medicine for my throat, but by the time we got back to the cottage, I was already battling new symptoms -- a headache, plus a stuffy/runny nose. I was pretty miserable by the time Sunday night rolled around, but I was optimistic that I would be feeling better on Monday after a good night's rest. Of course, considering that I was up half the night coughing, blowing my nose, and being gross all around, I didn't sleep particularly well, and consequently was still sicker than a dog all day on Monday. I went through brief spells where I would be feeling really good for a few hours -- enough time to help Stef assemble the new dresser she bought for her apartment, in fact -- but then my medication would start wearing off again, and I reverted to my misery. Last night before I went to bed I sent an email to Christi saying that I probably wouldn't come into work the next day, and while I did wake up feeling a hair better this morning, I decided to stay home anyway just so I wouldn't get anyone else sick.

Wrap-up
So yeah, it was a really busy, holiday weekend as you can tell. Lots of ups and downs with fun times at the lake, but being sick and having mediocre weather did put a bit of a damper on things. On the whole though it was a great Labor Day weekend, and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.